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Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Electric car makers threatened by shortage of lithium batteries

BEIJING (AP) — Threatened by possible shortages of lithium for electric car batteries, automakers are racing to lock in supplies of the once-obscure “white gold” in a politically and environmentally fraught competition from China to Nevada to Chile.

General Motors Co. and the parent company of China’s BYD Auto Ltd. went straight to the source and bought stakes in lithium miners, a rare step in an industry that relies on outside vendors for copper and other raw materials. Others are investing in lithium refining or ventures to recycle the silvery-white metal from used batteries.

A shortfall in lithium supplies would be an obstacle for plans to ramp up sales to tens of millions of electric vehicles a year. It is fueling political conflict over resources and complaints about the environmental cost of extracting them.

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That's what us regular folks call piss poor prior planning.

16 comments:

  1. It's almost like this whole green energy thing isn't very well though out and maybe the government is pushing it to hard and isn't letting the technology mature before they push for mass adoptation

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  2. "shortfall 8n lithium supplies"?????

    What about the the shortfall in a poem grid to support a glut of EVs? Or a shortfall in an infrastructure for them? Or a general disdain for their glorified golf carts.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For the totalitarian's Electric Vehicle dream to come true, thousands of miles of electric transmission lines will need to be built, upgraded or replaced. But no worries, FedGuv will give the people that improve that infrastructure a 30% tax credit to do the work. And where will that money come from? Why, from Biden's Inflation Reduction Act slush fund, of course.

      I feel like I'm living in a bad dream.

      Delete
  3. That's what happens when everybody employed by the car makers only knows how to implement JIT inventory.

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  4. I keep telling people the whole "EV" thing is a red herring. The Powers That Be don't really want you to have an electric car. They don't want you to have a car at all.

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  5. The electric craze is designed to fail. The UN's Agenda 2030 goal is to have everyone live in so-called 15 minute S.M.A.R.T. cities where they will eventually implement a social credit score (i.e. mark of the beast) system much like China's today. All the signs are pointing to the extremely soon return of Jesus.

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  6. Ev all stupid ideas coming from of course stupid people. Like paperstraws. Idiots

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paper straws to be used in plastic cups with plastic lids. Makes sense to them.

      Isn't it fun living in an Idiocracy?

      Delete
  7. I first heard of the Seven P's when I was working in New Jersey (for my sins) and my reserve unit stood around all day when we were supposed to be having riot training for the riots in Newark in the Sixties. Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance, as opposed to my dog's three P's: Pee, Poop and Patrol.

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  8. Just goes to show more human trafficking needed to provide more miner slaves.
    CC

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  9. How long do the batteries last? 10 years? So every vehicle needs to replace it's battery every 1p years... Yeah, no personal transportation for the masses.

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  10. So lemme see if I understand. We make it too expensive to sell ICE cars/trucks or simply outlaw them. Force everyone to battery cars/trucks. Once the switch is fairly far along, announce that due to rare earth metal shortages private vehicle ownership must be severely curtailed.
    That about it?

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  11. "Each (car) battery requires about 17 pounds of lithium ... Worldwide lithium resources are estimated at 80 million tons"

    If half of all lithium is used for car batteries, then the most cars you could ever have is 4.5 billion, even assuming 100% recycling of old batteries.

    There are approx 1.4 billion cars on the planet today.

    Don in Oregon

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  12. The US has enormous lithium reserves, mainly in northern Nevada. America could be self-sufficient in lithium if we chose to , just like we could be in energy.

    Don in Oregon

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    Replies
    1. There are plentiful reserves of everything - if the price is high enough. But it will have to be much higher before opening a mine in the USA will pay off. American miners will only work for several times as much as Chinese miners, and American mines have to mostly follow the environmental regulations instead of just slipping a small payment to the officials in charge of enforcing those regulations.

      Delete
  13. Handsome Pristine PatriotJuly 2, 2023 at 8:46 AM

    Mining CEOs have been screaming about the shortage of minerals for this boondoggle for years.
    Nobody listens because the narrative overshadows all common sense.

    ReplyDelete

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