this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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[–] photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It could lead to more affordable Li-ion batteries.

[–] HuddaBudda@kbin.social 38 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It means we don't have to go to the Congo or through Russia, China, or others anymore. Which is a pretty big political relief because it means that we have a little bit more resource independence.

Maybe even a way we could compete on the global market if we play our cards right.

If they're smart, they'll use it to beef up our power grid for the global warming shock.

Unfortunately, I imagine @poopa_mo is right, and this is just going to beef up someone's bank account. Or rot in a warehouse.

[–] Spiralvortexisalie@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most Lithium comes from South America and Australia and has for some time. I do not believe that Lithium has ever had the geopolitical issues that other rare earth metals such as cobalt have had.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, the difference between lithium and oil is that oil is a consumable. If the price of oil goes up, that has an instant effect on energy/transportation costs. If the price of lithium goes up, it'll only affect the price of new batteries, and anything that's already in use is unaffected. It'll slow down investments in new projects, people might delay the purchase of a new car, etc, but it's a way smaller economic impact.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 3 points 1 year ago

There's no good reason to use lithium for utility-scale power storage. We need it for transportation because it has the best power compared to its weight. Utility storage doesn't care as much about weight, and there are plenty of better options.

[–] TheWoozy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

The best way for it to beef up someone's bank account is for us to play our cards right and use it to compete on the global market.

[–] Zana@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

So this means prices will go down, right? Right?

[–] TheWoozy@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Only if demand levels off. Demand will not level off

[–] htrayl@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Li-On batteries have drastically decreased their prices over the last 10+ years.