have you ever wondered what may happen if lithium becomes scarce it is reasonable to wonder whether
there is enough of the highly sought element to satisfy Global needs because a shortage of lithium
would cause significant delays in the development and use of electric transportation and renewable
energy when it comes to making EVS lithium is one of the most important materials over the past five
to ten years Prospectors have found a lot of the lithium chemicals that are used to Power Batteries
however the move toward a cleaner economy is speeding up and batteries are a key part of this
change because of this the demand for lithium is expected to be higher than the supply until
2025. analysts and people who make cars say they need more lithium to make more batteries faster
and as more people transition to battery-powered Vehicles the demand for lithium is anticipated
to exceed the global Supply the U.S government wants to increase local production since China
now leads the world in processing essential raw materials join us today as we discuss how
lithium became a hot commodity lithium is a soft silvery white Alkali metal largely present in the
oceans and the Earth's crust it is not naturally occurring instead it is commonly found in brine
pools or igneous rocks in a composite form with other minerals the physical characteristics of
lithium set it apart from other metals it is also the lightest metal and chemical element it is thin
and so like that it can float on water and is so delicate that it can be trimmed with a blade the
element lithium was first discovered in the 19th century by Swedish chemist Johan August R fwetson
Who located it in the mineral pedalite lithium can be seen all over the U.S and the whole world
in Australia which makes the most lithium miners dig up a mineral called spodiumine that contains
the metal and in Chile and Argentina companies pump water into the ground to get lithium out
of huge Salt Lakes compounds like lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate are made by
mixing the metals taken out with other elements many batteries need these compounds to work
lithium is important to people who make cars and study batteries like Dr view a u because of its
unique chemical properties eating ions can offer high energy meaning that a lot of energy can be
packed in a small amount since lithium ions are so small they can quickly spread out when a battery
is being charged or discharged this makes it easy to recharge them the lightness of the
lithium ions makes batteries that use them store a lot of energy in a small amount of material
the rapidly expanding use of lithium in batteries is the primary cause of the lithium Market's
accelerated demand growth and price increase a rising number of goods in numerous Industries
worldwide use lithium batteries lithium is used in many batteries because it can store a lot of
energy and be charged repeatedly the cathode and the anode are the two main parts of every battery
lithium ions move from one part of a compound to another when power is taken away and they move
back when the battery is being charged there are different ways to wear them out so they can be
charged hundreds or thousands of times but lithium ions are so stable because of their size because
of this beneficial feature lithium ions can be used for at least a few years scientists have
worked for decades to make lithium-based batteries better and better lithium was found in 1817 but it
took more than a century for the chemical to be used in most batteries in the 1990s Sony made a
handheld video camera that used new Lithium-ion batteries that were small and light the Handycam
came out of this a big hit with the public shortly after that laptops and smartphones started to come
with batteries that could be charged again and batteries are being used with wind and solar
power more and more analysts like Simon Moores say that the need for the chemical is growing because
companies are making bigger machines that run on batteries people need more lithium now and in the
future than they did in the past this is because Lithium-ion batteries are getting bigger from
the size of a cell phone to the size of a car a Lithium-Ion battery makes up the whole chassis of
an electric car because it's an order of magnitude bigger you need an order of magnitude more lithium
this means that mining companies are looking for lithium all over the world in the United States
companies like lithium Americas and Piedmont lithium look for spodium minerals that contain
Metals in places people know in the past lithium from the Carolinas tin spotamine belt was used
to make drugs and nuclear bombs today Prospectors are spreading out here and in Arkansas Nevada and
California to look for new deposits the search is based on how much people want electric cars
a lithium mine takes five to eight years to build and a battery plant takes two years
both of these parts of the supply chain are in different time zones the creation of batteries at
massive lithium-ion Mega factories like the Tesla gigafactory May benefit from economies of scale
still the pipeline of lithium required to make these batteries may have supply chain problems
the biggest problem is making sure that there is enough Supply when there is enough demand so far
the industry has really failed to do this even though only about 1.5 to 2.1 percent of the cars
sold in the U.S are EVS that number is expected to grow to 9 to 10.5 percent in three to four years
power and electricity policies from Washington could make even more people want battery Parts
lithium producers worldwide must find new material sources to meet Rising demand
for instance researchers at Stanford University are looking into ways to extract lithium resources
from U.S super volcanoes President Biden asked for a review of how important products are brought
into the country this includes semiconductors important minerals drugs and advanced batteries
like the ones used in electric cars there is strong backing from both parties for quick reviews
of these four areas because they are so important to protecting and improving the competitiveness of
the United States part of why President Biden pays so much attention to the supply chain is because
of geopolitics only about 0.5 to 1.5 percent of all lithium mined and processed in the world is
done so in the U.S China finds about 9.9 to 10.1 percent of them China also uses about two-thirds
of the world's lithium and has the biggest market for Batteries the U.S government has
said that getting these materials from overseas creates a strategic weakness this means that a
new search for lithium is just getting started in a few years we will see who will become the
giant supplier of this hot commodity that's all about how lithium became a hot commodity
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