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EV passenger vehicles are great until you look at the supply of copper. Seriously, I love my car, but I also understand that we can't have everyone in one. Ma

EV passenger vehicles are great until you look at the supply of copper. Seriously, I love my car, but I also understand that we can't have everyone in one. Mass transit, walking, biking, e-bikes, etc... These are all competitors to EVs and unless we have a revolution in production requiring less copper or increases in copper supply, coupled with large increases in energy production, we're not giving everyone a cheap EV and the sort of mobility ICE drivers have had over the last 100 years.

scythe 4y ago
Google indicates that a typical electric car contains 183 pounds of copper. That's a lot! But a typical house contains 470 pounds. That's even more. So I'm not convinced that cars alone will dominate the market for copper.
- 01100011 4y ago
  Does that include copper pipes, which are being phased out? Regardless, it matters. Nearly everything that is being electrified, including formerly gas appliances like water heaters and stoves, will require more copper. Unlike lithium, we do not appear to have readily available reserves of copper that aren't already being extracted. Unlike lithium, there is no suitable competitor right now like you have with sodium.
  - scythe 4y ago
    The majority is in wiring, but pipes are included in the average. Aluminum wiring is a thing, but allowance must be made for its high coefficient of thermal expansion, which has led to fires with aluminum wiring in the past. Overall, I would agree that copper is one of the tightest resources right now (moreso than nickel or lithium) but I don't think it's going to create a worldwide crisis. Applications where switching to aluminum is the least difficult will probably be changed first. But do also notice: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.201806792 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.201806...
londons_explore 4y ago
Copper in an EV is almost entirely unneeded. Copper conductors could be replaced with aluminium. Aluminium actually has a better conductivity to weight ratio. It's just a little difficult to join aluminium wires, but we have invented processes to do it already.

scythe 4y ago

Google indicates that a typical electric car contains 183 pounds of copper. That's a lot! But a typical house contains 470 pounds. That's even more. So I'm not convinced that cars alone will dominate the market for copper.

01100011 4y ago
Does that include copper pipes, which are being phased out? Regardless, it matters. Nearly everything that is being electrified, including formerly gas appliances like water heaters and stoves, will require more copper. Unlike lithium, we do not appear to have readily available reserves of copper that aren't already being extracted. Unlike lithium, there is no suitable competitor right now like you have with sodium.
- scythe 4y ago
  The majority is in wiring, but pipes are included in the average. Aluminum wiring is a thing, but allowance must be made for its high coefficient of thermal expansion, which has led to fires with aluminum wiring in the past. Overall, I would agree that copper is one of the tightest resources right now (moreso than nickel or lithium) but I don't think it's going to create a worldwide crisis. Applications where switching to aluminum is the least difficult will probably be changed first. But do also notice: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.201806792 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.201806...

londons_explore 4y ago

Copper in an EV is almost entirely unneeded. Copper conductors could be replaced with aluminium. Aluminium actually has a better conductivity to weight ratio. It's just a little difficult to join aluminium wires, but we have invented processes to do it already.