Re:The price of solar power just fell 50% in 16 months
by ssmoot on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:38PM
(#11625098)
That's over 3 Powerwalls every second. And I've got to think you're not going to see more than 75% original capacity in ten years as a best case?
I'm not as concerned about the factory as the supply chain, can we actually supply that much raw material, and what will mining it do to the environment? I assume lithium is much rarer than iron or copper. But I don't really know.
For reference 16 million vehicles were sold in the US in 2013, but many (most?) of those were trucks and large SUVs, which AFAIK aren't on the roadmap for any EV manufacturer right now. And then there's fleet/work vehicles, single car families in states without long distance transportation or quick chargers (like TX).
It makes me wonder if 20 years from now fuel cells won't completely obsolete batteries?
I'm not as concerned about the factory as the supply chain, can we actually supply that much raw material, and what will mining it do to the environment? I assume lithium is much rarer than iron or copper. But I don't really know.
For reference 16 million vehicles were sold in the US in 2013, but many (most?) of those were trucks and large SUVs, which AFAIK aren't on the roadmap for any EV manufacturer right now. And then there's fleet/work vehicles, single car families in states without long distance transportation or quick chargers (like TX).
It makes me wonder if 20 years from now fuel cells won't completely obsolete batteries?