This is enough to produce about 400 million electric vehicles and a tonne of stationary storage per year. By 2040, the world will require roughly 16,00,000 metric tonnes of lithium if any of this is right and core battery requirements remain unchanged.
Is there a lithium scarcity for electric vehicles?
While the lithium shortage is the most pressing problem for electric car manufacturers, other rare Earth metals required for EV production have also been in short supply this year. In the first few months of 2022, nickel, a vital component of most lithium-ion batteries, saw a massive price increase.
Will there be a lithium scarcity in the future?
The Serbian government on Thursday revoked licenses for a large lithium project owned by Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L)(RIO.AX), extending the supply constraint until the middle of the decade, according to industry analysts.
find out more
Based on data from Australia’s Department of Industry, the United States Geological Survey, business publications, and a Credit Suisse report, the following are some essential facts about major mines and lithium supply.
Is there a sufficient supply of resources to manufacture electric vehicles?
Electric cars will not save us since there are insufficient resources to build them. This article can be found in Treehugger’s news archive. Read our most recent news or learn more about our news archiving procedure. Cobalt, lithium, and copper are all in short supply, according to British experts.
Will the world’s lithium supply run out?
Lithium is critical to the achievement of decarbonization goals and the construction of a sustainable future around the planet. Lithium-ion batteries, which are already ubiquitous in consumer devices, are powering electric vehicles and serving as renewable energy storage. With rising demand, rare earth metals are regarded one of the most important components in the transition to a low-carbon economy. As the newest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment illustrates, the window for reducing carbon emissions is fast narrowing before we confront the consequences of a global warming of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, in the face of rising lithium demand, the question of whether there is enough lithium to reach these targets has been raised.
Inability to create enough lithium would cause significant delays in the deployment and implementation of electric transportation and renewable energy, raising the question of whether there is enough of the valued element to meet global demand. Traditional lithium mining methods have wreaked havoc on the environment, raising questions about the sector’s long-term viability, which would be exacerbated by a scarcity of supply. We can, however, put all of these worries to rest.
Global lithium reserves are believed to be around 14 million tons, with the quantity of lithium required to reach current goals ranging between 0.5 and 1.3 million tons, depending on who you ask. Lithium extraction reached an all-time high of 100,000 metric tons in 2021. These figures alone are reason to be optimistic about the lithium industry’s future, but there are numerous other reasons to be optimistic. Lithium can now be extracted more sustainably from brines while also boosting yields, thanks to technological developments in the area, and the establishment of a lithium recycling industry is a given conclusion. This ensures that the world’s lithium supply will not be depleted.
While lithium deposits aren’t a concern for short- and long-term low-carbon transportation and power, one topic that isn’t posed nearly as often is whether current infrastructure can fulfill demand. “Unfortunately, battery capacity can be created considerably faster than lithium projects,” says Global Lithium president Joe Lowry to S&P Global. “The absence of lithium capacity investment over the past five years will extend the supply shortage.” Even well-capitalized major lithium firms have had difficulty meeting their expansion goals.”
Lowry believes that a deficit could emerge by 2027, and that supply predictions beyond that point cannot be believed to be reliable. FastMarkets confirms Lowry and Global Lithium’s concerns, but predicts a supply shortage by 2026. This is why countries are attempting to secure local lithium supplies Mexico, Chile, China, the United States, and the United Kingdom have all indicated an interest in creating their own supply chains in 2021 and 2022.
Conclusion: Securing a Future for Lithium
The critical need to secure lithium, on the other hand, has met with opposition. Following protests, Serbia revoked Rio Tinto’s lithium mining license, while the United States’ largest lithium resource, near Thacker Pass, Nevada, is the subject of a court lawsuit that is preventing exploitation. Countries with huge resources, such as Australia, Argentina, and Bolivia, are likely to continue to produce for worldwide markets, but major investments and quick infrastructure expansion will be required to enhance extraction activities. What’s needed is efficient technology that can reduce the dangers of a lithium supply bottleneck from brine to battery, something EnergyX specializes in.
The EnergyX LiTASTM Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology and SoLiSTM batteries are disrupting the market and demonstrating the innovation required to address the industry’s actual concerns. LiTASTM is the future of lithium extraction, increasing lithium yields while decreasing the need for heavy chemicals, metals, and vast volumes of water for brine processing. It also produces lithium at a far faster rate than present methods. Meanwhile, SoLiSTM is redefining lithium-ion batteries, with preliminary tests indicating that it is more robust, charges faster, stores more, and is more versatile than anything now available. EnergyX has filed over 50 patents in its four years of existence, and it hopes to resolve challenges within the lithium industry, which it intends to demonstrate by addressing the sector’s supply issues.
Is it still a good time to invest in lithium?
When it comes to batteries, lithium is the greatest material on the market right now. That, however, will not persist indefinitely. While it may be worthwhile to invest in now, new types of batteries are in the works that will be a better option in the future.
Salt
Salt, also known as sodium, is a chemical cousin of lithium. While it is a relatively comparable element, it has a lower environmental impact, making it a viable replacement alternative.
Sodium-ion batteries could be the answer. Sodium-ion technology uses no scarce resources, and its manufacture does not necessitate the use of rare lithium salts; ordinary table salt suffices.
Is lithium in high demand?
In 2020, global lithium demand was over 350,000 tons (317,517 metric tons), but industry projections suggest demand may be up to six times higher by 2030.
Is lithium running out?
Based on these three factors, a lithium scarcity is expected between 2021 and 2023 if lithium is not recycled. Current lithium ion battery methods recover little to no lithium and are energy inefficient because they incinerate or shred batteries after cooling them in liquid nitrogen.
Is there a sufficient supply of rare earth minerals for electric vehicles?
Explanation: Many EV detractors will paint the electric battery as hazardous and reliant on rare earth metals mined in war zones. True, cobalt and lithium are extensively utilized in electric vehicle batteries, but rare earth metals aren’t.
This isn’t to suggest they aren’t troublesome; cobalt mining, in particular, has a slew of major environmental and labor issues, as detailed by Amnesty International and the Washington Post in in-depth reports. However, these issues affect the entire economy. Lithium-ion batteries, which power most cell phones and laptops, contain cobalt. There’s no denying that lithium-ion battery makers need to clean up their supply chains, but Apple, Panasonic, and Samsung are just as much to blame as Tesla, Ford, and General Motors.
Finally, some critics will allege that electric vehicles are reliant on cerium, the majority of which is sourced from China. Cerium is used in the nickel metal hydride batteries of only a few hybrids, but it is also dusted over every catalytic converter in any internal combustion vehicle.
Traditional internal combustion enginesthose that operate on gasoline and dieselactually rely on rare earths more than electric vehicles, both in the vehicles themselves and in the production of the gasoline and diesel that power them.
Is there a sufficient supply of raw materials for electric vehicle batteries?
- Lithium, for example, climbed from $182 per tonne in May 2016 to $296 in May 2018, before falling to $200 in May 2019); price volatility (for example, lithium rose from $182 per tonne in May 2016 to $296 in May 2018, before falling to $200 in May 2019);