I wonder if lithium will give us the same geopolitical results as petrol, ie. massive unstability, wars, puppet governments, &c. [0] Afghanistan could be a major player [1].<p>It all feels like we're repeating history, I wouldn't be surprised experts in 2050-75 will tell us we fucked up big times with lithium battery vehicles, lithium extraction seems to be already quite energy intensive and pretty dirty, it doesn't seem like it'll get easier with time either, especially with the exponentially growing demand. EV feels like the last adrenaline shot trying to keep the beast of personal/individual transportation alive, between Scylla and Charybdis....<p>[0] <a href="https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/092970-001-A/petrol-a-story-of-power/" rel="nofollow">https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/092970-001-A/petrol-a-story-of...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/diu/story/global-players-eyeing-afghanistan-vast-mineral-reserves-1846218-2021-08-27" rel="nofollow">https://www.indiatoday.in/diu/story/global-players-eyeing-af...</a>
This sounds unlikely:<p>"This takes a lot of energy: around five per cent of the electricity generated globally is spent crushing rocks in lithium mining."
Germany also recently found large deposits of Lithium. It's not quite clear yet how economical it will be to extract them: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/can-rhines-white-gold-power-germanys-green-e-car-race-2021-04-28/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/can-rh...</a>