Demand for lithium will increase 42-fold if all the world’s cars become electric. There simply isn’t enough lithium in the world to make this transition possible.
Fact:
It is true that the world’s known sources of lithium would run out by mid-century, if we were restricted to using lithium just once in batteries or if no other technologies became available. Neither of those caveats is true, however. In the first place, lithium can be recycled. To quote a 2021 report by BloombergNEF, “With universal battery recycling, not only does primary lithium demand remain below known reserves, but there is also the prospect of a fully circular battery industry, with supply of recycled lithium exceeding total annual demand by mid-century.” [See James Fernyhough, “EV-to-grid could supply three times peak electricity demand: BNEF,” Renew Economy, 9/6/21.] In fact, the commercial recycling of lithium is already a reality. Hydrovolt owns the biggest EV battery recycling plant in Europe. Based in Norway, it is capable of recycling 12,000 tonnes of battery packs each year. 95 percent of the battery packs can be recycled.
Secondly, a number of new technologies have been developed which either do not require lithium at all or use it in far smaller quantities than is the case now. These technologies include sodium-ion batteries, zinc-ion batteries, zinc-air flow batteries, vanadium flow batteries, nickel hydrogen batteries and iron air batteries. Iron air batteries offer the prospect of storing energy at one-tenth the cost of traditional lithium-ion systems. So, the supply of lithium is not going to be a problem.