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I really wish I could find the research paper, but I've always been unsuccessful, when I worked in the battery lab about 10 years ago one of the scientists pres

by starky 6y ago

I really wish I could find the research paper, but I've always been unsuccessful, when I worked in the battery lab about 10 years ago one of the scientists presented a paper that analyzed the amount of known lithium reserves at the time and how long they would last. With something like 50 or 75% EV adoption and zero recycling the amount of known accessible reserves there was estimated to be 200+ years of lithium available. I wonder how that estimate holds up today with the amount of places we now use Li-ion cells and the new lithium reserves we have found.

extrapickles 6y ago
The problem with looking at the number of years of reserves is that if there is >60-100 years of reserves, that means nobody is actively looking for more. If there is 200 years of no recycling, then we should only worry about the other materials that go into the battery. Whats more important than lithium is the cobalt they need, which is particularly hard to source. As others have mentioned, battery makers are trying hard to remove cobalt from their batteries.