EV Battery Plants popping up

[MazdaMatt]

I'm sure if they put as much money into finding and acquiring lithium as they do into oil, there would be plenty. Recycling will be very important - it is the only real seperation between Li and Oil... else we're just going to strip mine the world and run out of it.

[bennelson]

Matt's right, we do live in a world of increasingly scarce materials, but all things being equal, oil can only be used once, while batteries can be recycled.

I haven't heard if A123 got the bailout money or not yet.

While I don't like how Americans have to foot the bill for all the money the government shells out, at least this one is actually for improving transportation!

[MazdaMatt]

More importantly, it is replacing failing crappy industry with future industry instead of leaving it to the chinese... i'm canadian, but I'll benefit from a strong american tech industry.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by MazdaMatt

More importantly, it is replacing failing crappy industry with future industry instead of leaving it to the chinese... i'm canadian, but I'll benefit from a strong american tech industry.

Canadians are American too!

We're all in this together.

[MPaulHolmes]

I forgot about recycling! There are already an absurd amount of Lithium batteries out there, in laptops and all over the place. Right now there's only like 1 drop off place that I know of for lithium batteries, whereas lead acid is everywhere. They need to expand the recycling locations.

[Bicycle Bob]

Wikipedia says:
Lithium is widely distributed on Earth,[11] however, it does not naturally occur in elemental form due to its high reactivity. Estimates for crustal content range from 20 to 70 ppm by weight.[6] In keeping with its name, lithium forms a minor part of igneous rocks, with the largest concentrations in granites. Granitic pegmatites also provide the greatest abundance of lithium-containing minerals, with spodumene and petalite being the most commercially-viable mineral sources for the element.[6] A newer source for lithium is hectorite clay, the only active development of which is through Western Lithium Corp in the USA. [12]
According to the Handbook of Lithium and Natural Calcium, "Lithium is a comparatively rare element, although it is found in many rocks and some brines, but always in very low concentrations. There are a fairly large number of both lithium mineral and brine deposits but only comparatively a few of them are of actual or potential commercial value. Many are very small, others are too low in grade."[13] The most important deposit of lithium is in the Salar de Uyuni area of Bolivia, which holds half of the world's reserves.[14]
[edit]Applications

Because of its specific heat capacity, the highest of all solids, lithium is often used in heat transfer applications.
It is an important ingredient in anode materials, used in Lithium-ion batteries because of its high electrochemical potential, light weight, and high current density.

Another source estimated the world supply of affordably-extracted lithium to be too small to equip a significant percentage of vehicles with lithium batteries.

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Canadians are American too!

Canada: The FURTHER NORTH Americans

[MazdaMatt]

Originally Posted by captainslug

Canada: The other America

Originally Posted by captainslug

Canada: The FURTHER NORTH Americans

Careful what you say near any drunk Canadians... the sober ones would be too polite to punch you in the face for those comments

[Bicycle Bob]

Canada is a land that could have had French Cuisine, British Government, and American Technology. Instead, we have American Food, French Government, and British Technology.
These days, I think we enjoy about the same status as Austria did in the Third Reich.

BTW, South Americans consider themselves "American" too, and resent the other usage.

[jjackstone]

AutoBlog Green was addressing lithium supplies just today. Here's a link to a study done for Mitsubishi.
http://trugroup.com/whitepapers/TRU-...tlook-2020.pdf
It has some nice charts for easy reading.
JJ