Lithium can be recovered from seawater: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304386X87900454 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304

Lithium can be recovered from seawater: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304386X87900454 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304386X879... http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=lithium+seawater+recovery&btnG=Search&as_sdt=0%2C11&as_ylo=&as_vis=0 http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=lithium+seawat... http://gas2.org/2008/10/13/lithium-counterpoint-no-shortage-for-electric-cars/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/13/lithium-counterpoint-no-shortage-... While a lithium trading cartel can and will exist as long as prices for mining are lower than prices for extraction, the chance of a war over lithium are practically negligible. The price of lithium from the ocean is only five times the cost from mining, and the cost of lithium represents a small fraction ( < $100) of an EV. >And that brings us to yet another issue: the fact that lithium ion batteries, despite the name, just really don’t use that much lithium. About 1.4 kilograms of lithium carbonate are needed per kilowatt hour of lithium-ion batteries. A kilowatt hour of bulk lithium ion batteries costs $300 to $500. Hence, lithium carbonate costs only make up 1/30th to 1/50th the cost of the cells! The price could increase tenfold and you’d barely notice the difference. Source: Gas 2.0 (http://s.tt/12zDD http://s.tt/12zDD)