The goal of reaching net-zero emissions, particularly in the transportation and energy sectors, is heavily reliant on battery technology, and lithium-ion batteries are currently the dominant solution. While the world does have enough lithium to power the electric vehicle revolution, we still need to use Earth’s lithium reserves in a sustainable manner.
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Earth’s Lithium Quantity
Lithium is an abundant element found in the Earth’s crust and seawater. The primary concern is not a total shortage, but the ability to economically extract and produce enough lithium to meet the growing demand.
Economically viable Earth lithium quantities, or lithium reserves, are estimated to be around 22 million tonnes as of 2021, only a portion of the total lithium resources of 88 million tonnes.
An electric vehicle (EV) requires approximately 8 kilograms of lithium for its battery. This means that we are able to produce around 2.5 billion electric cars with Earth’s lithium resources, which is 25% more than the estimated number of EVs needed to reach net zero. This figure hasn’t considered the amount of lithium needed for other electrical devices, such as mobile phones and laptops.
The Need to Use Lithium Sustainably
While there is theoretically enough lithium to meet net-zero goals, a lithium shortage is expected to happen in the near future due to an excessive demand for electric-powered vehicles and devices that the lithium-mining industry can’t keep up with.
Less than 5% of lithium is recycled despite its high recycling rate, which can reach over 90%. This is partially due to the intricacy and the lack of standardization in circuit design.
Improper disposal of lithium batteries causes soil and water contamination from toxic heavy metals like nickel, manganese, and cobalt, which slows us down from reaching net zero.
References
- Does the World Have Enough Lithium for Batteries?
- How much Lithium does it take to power an electric car for one mile?
- The world needs 2 billion electric vehicles to get to net zero. But is there enough lithium to make all the batteries?
- Lithium ion battery recycling
- Why your phone battery gets worse over time
- Lithium Shortage Looms: Meeting the Surge in Demand by 2030