4 ms·

Battery technology development is a huge field with a long record of failed promises (often related to issues like lifetime, flammability, manufacturing cost, e

Battery technology development is a huge field with a long record of failed promises (often related to issues like lifetime, flammability, manufacturing cost, etc.). One interesting recent development is the replacement of the cobalt needed in lithium batteries with iron. Cobalt wars in Africa's Congo are a current issue: https://nextmoneyng.com/2021/12/22/the-cobalt-war-the-sino-american-battle-for-supremacy-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo/ https://nextmoneyng.com/2021/12/22/the-cobalt-war-the-sino-a... Now it seems that cobalt can be replaced with iron with no efficieny/storage capacity losses: https://crm.org/articles/a-clean-industry-revolution-the-lithium-iron-oxide-battery https://crm.org/articles/a-clean-industry-revolution-the-lit... Lithium itself doesn't really seem replaceable for where it's used, in applications that demand relatively high energy density and voltage.

otherotherchris 5y ago
The world has a nearly infinite supply of lithium. Evaporating naturally occurring brine in poverty stricken shitholes is just a lazier way of extracting the tiny amount that we've used historically rather than capital intensive extraction from spodumene, clay, and geothermal or desalination wastewater.
- yellowapple 5y ago
  > Evaporating naturally occurring brine in poverty stricken shitholes Come to think of it, I guess Nevada is a poverty stricken shithole, but it's my poverty stricken shithole and I'm proud of it.
bdamm 5y ago
Conveniently, lithium is also abundant and can be mined from many different sources, including the ocean. So wars over lithium seem unlikely, and lithium shortages also seem unlikely since the main constraint is over scaling up efficient mining.
- imtringued 5y ago
  I hope that lithium recycling is going to be more cost effective than extracting new lithium. In theory it should be a very straightforward process compared to mining.

otherotherchris 5y ago

The world has a nearly infinite supply of lithium. Evaporating naturally occurring brine in poverty stricken shitholes is just a lazier way of extracting the tiny amount that we've used historically rather than capital intensive extraction from spodumene, clay, and geothermal or desalination wastewater.

yellowapple 5y ago
> Evaporating naturally occurring brine in poverty stricken shitholes Come to think of it, I guess Nevada is a poverty stricken shithole, but it's my poverty stricken shithole and I'm proud of it.

bdamm 5y ago

Conveniently, lithium is also abundant and can be mined from many different sources, including the ocean. So wars over lithium seem unlikely, and lithium shortages also seem unlikely since the main constraint is over scaling up efficient mining.

imtringued 5y ago
I hope that lithium recycling is going to be more cost effective than extracting new lithium. In theory it should be a very straightforward process compared to mining.