[megaman8]

If you were to electrify all the vehicles in the world today (and the developing world hasn't even got lots of cars yet), it would take 1/2 the world's known supply of lithium. and those batteries only last about 8 to 10 years.

Lithium become abundant, no way. Not with the amounts we're using up per capita and the enormous population on this planet. the green revolution is just getting started and there's definitely not enough to go around.

[epistasis]

Your numbers prove the exact opposite of your conclusion. If, with the tiny amount of lithium that we have bothered to look for, we can already provide for 2x our current car needs, then we are golden.

Batteries last far longer than 8-10 years, I'm not sure where you are getting that bad number. But even if you were right, our very first attempts at recycling already recover 95% of input metals:

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/03/heres-what-redwood-lear...

And every year we discover massive new amounts of lithium resources, because until the mid 2010s, nobody really bothered to look for lithium.

FUD about amounts of lithium should be abandoned as a stall tactic; they no longer pass basic sniff tests arms are easily shut down hard. Other stall FUD needs to be invented if the energy interchange is to be stopped.

[vintermann]

> and those batteries only last about 8 to 10 years.

Presumably, they don't stop being lithium after 8-10 years.

[adshouts]

Lets save the planet with further exploitation of the planet.

[thehappypm]

What’s the alternative? Continue with fossil fuels? Pick your poison.

[chuckwolfe]

I see no reason why we can’t have both. Let the free market decide.

[adshouts]

There is no good alternative unfortunately, but the belief that electric cars are "better" for the planet is utterly ridiculous and false.

[thehappypm]

How so?

[adshouts]

The total energy cost of producing and using the Tesla Model S Long Range battery pack for example, including battery production, lithium extraction, transportation, the energy cost of building the Gigafactory, battery transportation, battery recycling, diesel fuel required to generate electricity to charge the battery, and the environmental costs of battery disposal and battery fires, is equivalent to about 3,088,431 barrels of oil.

[thehappypm]

That’s like, one oil tanker to produce an entire fleet of cars?