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I think that true global reserves are much higher than what we know now. Before, Lithium was important, but not nearly in the quantities needed for EV's. Now t
by Night_Thastus 3y ago
I think that true global reserves are much higher than what we know now.
Before, Lithium was important, but not nearly in the quantities needed for EV's. Now that EV's have picked up, more people will be looking for Lithium, and that will make all the difference.
- nordsieck 3y ago> I think that true global reserves are much higher than what we know now. That was certainly true of oil. As reserves got depleted, progressively more advanced techniques allowed people to extract from more difficult locations.
- stouset 3y agoAt ever-increasing costs.
- baq 3y agoAnd decreasing EROI. Maybe you meant that, but it’s worth stating outright, as no amount of money can fix that.
- stouset 3y agoYep, that’s frankly a much bigger deal and something I should have specifically noted.
- kortilla 3y agoIt’s not really a big deal because we have renewables that can fund the extraction. Oil isn’t useful for its contribution to global energy, it’s useful because it’s portable.
- stouset 3y agoRenewables used for extracting oil are renewables that can’t be used for other uses, and this shortfall will need to be made up for by… burning fossil fuels.
- kortilla 3y agoThere is excess renewable generation in regions very frequently and coal can be burned rather than oil in the case fossil fuel is needed. You’re not making a coherent point.
- newyankee 3y agoThe EROI of Solar PV is quite decent. I hope a lot of demand can move to Solar peak at different locations, especially industrial demands.
- BurningFrog 3y agoThat's what I learned from the "Peak Oil" scare/fiasco. Let's not be fooled again!
- linhns 3y agoIt’s very likely to go the way of oil. EV demand has slowed down recently (honestly I don’t believe the world is ready for mass adoption and EVs themselves are not ready also), so we’ll keep finding more and more and always beyond the consumption.
- feedsmgmt 3y agoI think that is an odd opinion to have. The data shows otherwise: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/electric-vehicles/chart-us-ev-sales-are-having-a-record-setting-year https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/electric-vehicles/chart...
- epistasis 3y agoThere are large propaganda channels masquerading as news outlets that push this idea continually as part of culture war. I would agree it's an odd opinion, but it is fairly common due to the ever present misinformation.
- enslavedrobot 3y agoOr maybe it's the fact that incumbent manufacturers of internal combustion cars spend billions on advertising and publications are protecting their source of income.
- thebruce87m 3y agoGlobally demand is up. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/global-ev-sales-hit-new-record-november-rho-motion-2023-12-12/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/global... > LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Global sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) rose 20% versus a year ago as strong growth in North America and China offset lower sales in Europe, according to market research firm Rho Motion.
- kccqzy 3y agoI hate the weasel words of "demands slowing down". It's always not clear what exactly is happening from this phrase. Is the production or sales going down year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter? Because that's what people think "demand slowing down" means. However what's actually happening is that demand is going up, but at a rate slower than before. Imagine that in 2022 demand increased by 60% YoY but in 2023 demand only increased by 40% YoY (these are approximate figures). You are measuring the second derivative which is decreasing from a big positive value to a smaller positive value, which is not usually described by the word "slow". Intuitively "slow" means the second derivative has become negative.
- ajuc 3y agoWhen you look at elements' abundance in Earth's crust lithium is about 50% more common than lead, but we mine 268 times more lead every year. We just weren't looking very hard to find lithium compared to lead till very recently. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth%27s_crust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth...
- brianwawok 3y agoLithium is a pretty volatile chemical though. Does the 50% more common take into account the fact that some lithium blows up?
- HeatrayEnjoyer 3y agoDoes the ore blow up often?
- Arrath 3y agoI suppose it depends on if blasting is utilized at a given lithium ore production site.
- frabert 3y agoIs lithium normally mined in its elemental form? If not, its volatility as an ore might be wildly less than in its metallic form
- Legend2440 3y agoEssentially no metals are mined in their pure elemental form - only the noble metals like gold or platinum.
- Turing_Machine 3y agoNative copper exists. Sometimes even to a minable degree, as with the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan.
- crote 3y agoA big part of that is simply in the meaning of "reserve". For something to be counted in the reserve it has to be a) measured, and b) known to be economically viable to extract. There are plenty of known deposits of unknown size and quality. They are just by definition not included in the reserve. As demand grows those will be explored and included in the total count.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]