The US, unable to build long-distance rail at home, is going to construct a 1200 mile rail line to cart minerals out of DR Congo and Zambia out to the coast of Angola.
I see.
If I were these countries I would insist on making the batteries and magnets locally, then getting the value added income. Why consent to be plundered, once again?
An den Rohstoffmärkten sind schwankende Preise normal, doch in den vergangenen Jahren waren die Ausschläge besonders stark. So gab es beim Lithium einen starken Preisverfall. Was steckt dahinter? Von Bianca von der Au.
French recycling plant on fire housing 900 tonnes of lithium batteries
Reuters, February 19, 2024
"#Lithium batteries are vital in electrical devices from #phones to electric cars (#EVs), but contain combustible materials which, combined with the energy they store, can make them vulnerable to catching fire when exposed to heat - a potential danger given the #toxic materials their burning can emit."
You may think the future will exist in the intangible online world, but try using apps without a computer. We look at the crucial materials needed to build the physical world, and consider the price of extracting them. It’s “Lithium Valley” on Big Picture Science.
If your EVs aren't selling maybe that's because you're making giant fucking trucks and SUVs and hyper-expensive luxury sedans and the kind of people who want EVs mostly just want a compact car for getting to work and running errands.
@tess The affordable, efficient, small #EV most people want is an #eBike and/or #cargoBikes which use 1/100th the amount of #lithium and other #carbon-intensive resources, costs less to own two #eBikes than one year of car expenses, don't have to give up your old gas car yet, no worries for #parking or grid-scale crisis about charging infrastructure. All we need are #transportation Engineers who don't fruitlessly waste every inch of city streets on cars, and some transit priority lanes instead.
Pretty depressing to read all those anti-#hydrogen posts while realizing, their authors had either fallen in love with #BEVs after #lithium mining #securities had sky-rocketed or - even worse - do not have any clue what integrated sustainable chemical engineering is about outside the car-driver sand-box.
Le Massif central et le lithium : comment concilier progrès et écologie ?
Selon les prédictions d'Imerys, l'entreprise sera capable de produire de l'hydroxyde de lithium pour 700 000 voitures par an à partir de l'année 2028, ce, pour une durée d'au moins 25 ans. L'enjeu financier est donc colossal.
Horrifying police violence, human and Indigenous rights violations in Argentina spurred by lithium landgrabbing. Environmental protestors at grave risk
According to the International Energy Agency, demand for 🔸rare earth elements 🔸 is expected to reach 👉three to seven times current levels by 2040;
demand for other critical minerals such as 🔸lithium 🔸may 👉multiply 40-fold.
Delivering on the 2016 Paris Agreement, under which signatory nations are obligated to reduce emissions to cap the global temperature increase, would require the global mineral supply to quadruple within the same time frame. At the current rate, supply is on track to merely double.
Obtaining rare earth elements begins with obtaining source materials, which can happen, broadly, in three ways:
🔹primary extraction, or mining directly from the earth;
🔹recovery from secondary sources, such as end-of-life electronics;
🔹and extraction from unconventional sources, including industrial wastes like coal ash and waste products from mines.
But China so dominates the market—it controlled 60% of global production in 2021—that other countries are at a disadvantage.
After China announced export restrictions in 2023 on gallium, germanium, and graphite, nations scrambled to find alternative sources in anticipation of future restrictions.
"The Saudi Arabia of #lithium." If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider that the DOE estimates there is enough lithium beneath the Salton Sea to provide batteries for more than 375 million electric vehicles (EVs).
I still hope they recycle the lithium from spent batteries.
#EV#battery repair is dangerous. Here’s why mechanics want to do it anyway.
Fixing car and #ebike batteries saves money and resources — but challenges are holding back the industry.
by Maddie Stone, Dec 08, 2023
"About three times a day, Rich Benoit gets a call to his auto shop, The Electrified Garage, from the owner of an older Tesla Model S whose car battery has begun to fail. The battery, which used to provide several hundred miles of range, might suddenly only last 50 miles on a single charge. These cars are often out of warranty, and the cost of replacing the battery can exceed $15,000.
"For most products, repair is a more affordable option than replacement. And in theory, lots of these Tesla batteries can be fixed, said Benoit, who runs one of the few Tesla-focused independent repair shops in the United States. But due to the time and training involved, the safety considerations, and the complexity of the repair, Benoit said that the bill to fix one car battery at his shop might run upwards of $10,000 — more than most consumers are willing to pay. Instead, he said, many choose to sell or donate their old vehicle for scrap and buy a brand new Tesla.
“'It’s getting to the point where [the car] is almost like a consumable, like a TV,' Benoit said.
"Benoit’s experience heralds a problem that early adopters of EVs, as well as electric micromobility devices like e-bikes and #escooters, are beginning to face: These vehicles contain big, expensive batteries that will inevitably degrade or stop working over time. Repairing these batteries can have sustainability benefits, saving energy and resources that would otherwise be used to manufacture a new one. That’s particularly important for EVs, which contain very large batteries that must be used for years to offset the carbon emissions associated with making them.
But many EV and e-mobility batteries are difficult to repair by design, and some manufacturers actively discourage the practice, citing safety concerns. The small number of independent mechanics who repair EV or e-bike batteries struggle to do so affordably due to design challenges, safety requirements, and a lack of access to spare parts.
“'There are a lot of automakers who do not allow battery repair, even in case of minor damages to the battery case,' a GDV spokesperson told Grist. Automakers sometimes choose to replace the battery if the car was involved in an accident that caused the airbags to activate. Both practices 'will lead to an increase of repair costs,' and ultimately, higher insurance premiums, the spokesperson said.
"New rules around EV battery repairability would come at a critical time. Helps, of Cox Automotive, said that two trends in EV battery design are occurring in parallel: 'Batteries are either becoming very serviceable, or not serviceable at all.'
"Some, like the batteries inside Volkswagon’s ID.4, feature LEGO-like modules that are easy to remove and replace. Others, like Tesla’s new 4680 structural battery pack, don’t include modules at all. Instead, all of the cells are bonded together and bonded to the pack itself, a design Helps described as 'impossible to service.' If a bad cell group is found, the entire battery must be replaced.
“'It’s still a fully #recyclable battery,' Helps said. 'You’re just not able to repair it.'
"#Tesla didn’t respond to Grist’s request for comment."
@Rjdlandscapes I guess the takeaway I got from the full article (not just the excerpts I posted) is that the batteries aren't made to be repaired -- which is ridiculous, but not surprising. I had a friend who gave up her #EVCar because the #battery replacement was more than the value of the car. That's just bad and wrong. Also, #Lithium, #Cobalt and the like need to be recycled if the battery is no longer repairable. Sometimes batteries stop holding charges. It's something we see with household rechargeable batteries, and it's a design flaw that needs to be fixed. As for the dangers of #LithiumBatteries, there have been issues with exploding cars and #ebikes -- just being in storage! So, yes, proper training is required -- just like working on electrical systems or plumbing -- not for the untrained.
"The cathode is not made from the familiar mixture of #lithium and other metals. Instead, the primary ingredient is #zinc, which ranks as the fourth most produced metal in the world.
Eos’s batteries use a #water-based electrolyte (the liquid that moves charge around in a battery) instead of organic solvent."
This is intended to be a #GridBattery.
Dendrite formation is the bane of lithium batteries.
"In the new research, Li and his team stop #dendrites from forming by using micron-sized silicon particles in the anode to constrict the lithiation reaction and facilitate homogeneous plating of a thick layer of #lithium metal."