Some industry observers are concerned that mass adoption of electric cars might strain the supply of natural lithium reserves.
Since the lithium ion battery was first invented in the early 90s, lithium production has been ramping up rapidly for use in consumer electronic devices. Car batteries are of course much more massive, and if they are produced globally in very large numbers, reserves could theoretically be an issue.
Lithium is currently obtained from dried salt ponds, or “salt flats”. Most of the natural supply base exists in South America and China, and one expert predicts future growth will strain the ability of these locations to export the salt.
This expert, William Tahil of Meridian International Research, predicts that with a growth rate of 25% per yer of lithium containing consumer electronics, that by 2015 there would only be enough supply of lithium to build 1.5 million Chevy Volt-type cars.
Another concern is the environmental impact of increasing production.
Not all experts agree with these projections.
EnerDel CEO Charles Gassenheimer had told us that perhaps at a market of $100 billion, there might be a bottleneck, but that in fact lithium is even present in the sea (see post).
A123 VP Ric Fulop has told us that he believes there’s enough lithium on the planet for “several billion” electric cars (see post).
Source (CNET)
