Re:Electric cars are no longer held back by crappy, expensiv...
by scythe on Monday May 23, 2016 @02:46AM
(#11752321)
Supply issues are normal when demand rises suddenly. They aren't necessarily indicative of the long-term productive capacity of the Earth.
Websites go back and forth on this, but truly scientific analyses of "will we run out of X" are few and far between. But there's just no point in looking for a new quarry if the demand isn't there. You think it will be, but technology is capricious -- someone could invent a new gizmo that renders your investment worthless, so market forces generally don't support dragging a bunch of resources around until there's no other option.
There are ten pounds of lithium in a car battery. It's about as common as copper. That's hardly the end of the world.
Websites go back and forth on this, but truly scientific analyses of "will we run out of X" are few and far between. But there's just no point in looking for a new quarry if the demand isn't there. You think it will be, but technology is capricious -- someone could invent a new gizmo that renders your investment worthless, so market forces generally don't support dragging a bunch of resources around until there's no other option.
There are ten pounds of lithium in a car battery. It's about as common as copper. That's hardly the end of the world.
http://gas2.org/2008/10/13/lithium-counterpoint-no-shortage-...