Bolivia’s Lithium Bonanza
Filed Under: Al Gore, Environmental News on December 14, 2009
Well, there won’t be a shortage of lithium for a while, it seems. Although there hasn’t been a lithium shortage worry or anything, Bolivia has announced that if there were, it’d be solved already.
Home of the world’s largest salt flat, Satar de Uyuni (pictured at right), Bolivia is now home to an estimated 35% of the world’s currently known lithium resources. That’s according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which apparently does more than just the United States. They should change their name.
With the rise of electric cars and the near future of those electrics being based on lithium-ion batteries, Bolivia may have found their new largest export. All electric cars, including battery electric, hybrids, and even hydrogen and similar vehicles use batteries in some fashion. Some more than others, obviously. Currently, the lightest and most efficient battery type is a lithium-ion battery. Lithium makes up batteries in laptop computers, cell phones, and other gadgets as well.
Of course, there are a lot of other things that make up a lithium-ion battery. Those items may be getting a little harder for us to find. Such as phosphorous in the current favorite EV battery: LiFePO4. I discussed phosphorous’ growing scarcity in The Sustainability Factor.
But the good news is that we’re not running short on lithium any time soon.
The idiots at Treehugger had a lot to say about “Lithium Cartels” and other nonsense. Of course, Treehugger is populated by a bunch of people who think taht bicycles are the height of human invention and Al Gore is the height of human intelligence. So I take most of what they say with a pound of salt. Plus tax where applicable.
