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Forget peak oil! Worry about peak lithium!
Smart Grid News ^ | Aug 31, 2012 | Jesse Berst

Posted on 09/01/2012 4:19:40 PM PDT by djf

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To: palmer

Do the computation by volume ~ your nickel iron battery will be far lighter than older nickel iron batteries.


21 posted on 09/01/2012 5:44:34 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: djf

I don’t need an electric car, but I do need my LI powered cordless tools. Ban EV’s now!


22 posted on 09/01/2012 5:44:51 PM PDT by umgud (No Rats, No Rino's)
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To: djf

There is more lithium on the planet than anyone knows what to do with. The only shortage is of lithium mines.


23 posted on 09/01/2012 6:11:25 PM PDT by fso301
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To: djf

The problem with lithium is not that it is rare, but that it rarely concentrates, and is fairly evenly distributed. For example seawater is estimated to contain some 230 billion tons of lithium.


24 posted on 09/01/2012 6:33:10 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: djf
...it might take years to discover and bring online some new technology.

Best to get started right away then...

But I'll betcha my entire stock of double-a's somebody has been on that for a while already. It's not like these R&D shops discover some new technology and then go home and do crossword puzzles until OMG PEAK WHATEVER!!!

25 posted on 09/01/2012 6:43:51 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (Wait a minute! Romney doesn't suck? I'm trying to keep up.)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA
The notion of “peak lithium” will eventually have been shown to be as wrong-headed as every other claim of depleted resources. The reason — technological change, substitution, and other adaptive measures.

Maybe so, but if I'm the guy who's got to let his electric car sit idle for a few years while the new tech comes online, I'm *NOT* going to be a happy camper! :O

26 posted on 09/01/2012 6:48:47 PM PDT by The Duke
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To: The Duke

It might be worse. It might be that the current cars couldn’t even run on the new things. Or cell phones. Or laptops. That’s alot of full dumpsters.

Me, personally, I HATE wasting stuff. If it still has good life/use in it, I try to keep it going. Got a couple laptops running WIN/ME that I use only for older games, etc. Work just fine.


27 posted on 09/01/2012 7:07:26 PM PDT by djf (The barbarian hordes will ALWAYS outnumber the clean-shaven. And they vote.)
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To: aft_lizard

Well, that’s just great. When they figure out how to make a lithium ion battery without lithium manganese dioxide, 97% of which is in China, then Chile will be in the driver’s seat. (rolls eyes) BTW, Nevada has quite a lot of lithium also.


28 posted on 09/01/2012 7:41:44 PM PDT by anton
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To: The Duke
That's not gonna happen!
29 posted on 09/01/2012 10:11:53 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: The Duke
Study says cost of lithium ion batteries could drop by two-thirds

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/study-says-cost-of-lithium-ion-batteries-could-drop-by-two-thirds/

"According to the study, published by McKinsey Research, the price of a “complete automotive lithium ion battery pack” could drop from the current price of $500 to $600 per kilowatt hour to $200 per kWh by 2020."
30 posted on 09/01/2012 10:21:50 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: anton

Well for one there is many different compounds for batteries than just lithium manganese, secondly since lithium exists as a mineral in nature it is relatively easy to process into different salts and compounds and to purify. You make it sound as if the Chinese have pre-made lithium manganese oxide just oozing from the ground without the need of processing. Well I hate to burst your bubble, thats not how they do it. They extract the lithium from lithium carbonate deposits and then create the compounds for Li-ion batteries from that.


31 posted on 09/02/2012 6:37:55 AM PDT by aft_lizard
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To: Reily

-——I got some dilithium crystal futures to sell!-——

I’ll take a hundred thousand shares. I’ll send you a check on my Gold Pressed Latinum account.


32 posted on 09/02/2012 6:41:56 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Present failure and impending death yield irrational action))
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To: aft_lizard

You need to read up on this. You do know that manganese is an element, not a process, right? And that lithium manganese dioxide is a mineral not the result of processing lithium. If your contention is that lithium deposits can be commercially synthesized into lithium manganese dioxide, you are just wrong.


33 posted on 09/02/2012 6:51:53 AM PDT by anton
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To: anton

Ooops! I mean Manganese is a mineral. There is plenty of lithium everywhere. Manganese is required to make a lithium ion battery as in the Leaf, etc. You can’t process lithium into a battery without China controlling the minerals.


34 posted on 09/02/2012 7:01:55 AM PDT by anton
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

GLORIFIED_GOLF_CART_PING!


35 posted on 09/02/2012 9:21:21 AM PDT by The Duke
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To: anton

I have read up on this. I think you need to because the bulk of Chinese deposits are lithium carbonate. Lithium Manganese Dioxide is easily created by adding lithium to Manganese Dioxide. Lithium Manganese Dioxide does not occur in nature that often. However the Chinese do control MgO2, but like I said there are literally dozens of different Lithium Ion battery technologies, its just that LiMgO2 is the easiest to implement which is why we see it in most smaller batteries.


36 posted on 09/02/2012 11:19:05 AM PDT by aft_lizard
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To: aft_lizard

I have to agree that predicting peak anything for the future based on today’s technology is a losing bet. But, one could not power a Leaf today without MnO2.


37 posted on 09/02/2012 12:20:22 PM PDT by anton
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To: djf
Scarcity makes people hostile.

Practice: "No war for lithium!"

"The Lithuanians are oppressing the poor!"

38 posted on 09/02/2012 12:25:07 PM PDT by Dysart
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To: djf
Not a problem, we can use Potassium. It is cheaper, and about is about 100x more abundant than Lithium.
39 posted on 09/02/2012 1:45:05 PM PDT by PeaceBeWithYou (De Oppresso Liber! (50 million and counting in Afghanistan and Iraq))
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