The world's largest lithium reserves are under the salt flats in Uyuni, Bolivia.

There’s no shortage of discussion about what the United States should do to wean itself off of oil. Such heavy dependence on one main fuel source to power our transportation systems (and thus keeping our economy humming) means the U.S. is vulnerable to the unpredictable gyrations of oil and gas prices. Aside from those concerns, security risks and political considerations from having to deal with OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)  and many less than democratic countries are often the cause of much strife. Last but not least are the environmental concerns from relying on a petroleum based economy. Electrification of the transportation sector has been hailed as one of the solutions to our current oil dependence. By switching to electric vehicles, it is argued, we can avoid many of the problems mentioned above. The need for a reliable and renewable electricity source other than coal to charge those cars is one major concern. The batteries needed to power our electric vehicles is another. Those batteries need lithium, and lithium is not so equitably dispersed around the world.  Is there a chance that there will one day be protests against “Big Lithium” or some other mineral instead of big oil? Here are a few facts about lithium today, taken from work by the Electrification Coaltion:

• Lithium is a soft silver-white element of the alkali metal group that is the lightest metal known and that is used especially in alloys and glass, in chemical synthesis, and in storage batteries

• Today, the Salar de Atacama in Chile holds at least 20 percent of the world’s known reserves and supplies nearly 50 percent of global lithium demand.

• Both Australia and the United States have extensive reserves of mineral lithium, and between 1950 and 1985 the two nations dominated international lithium production. Over that time period, market prices hovered between $4,500 and $5,800 per ton (in 1998 dollars).

• In 1985, Chemetall Foote, an American company, deployed technology to extract lithium from brine resources in the Salar de Atacama in Chile. In 2000, as a result of expansion of lithium carbonate production from Chilean brines (and the development of Argentine brine resources), lithium prices fell to around $2,000 per ton,

• Lithium brine resources are also present in Bolivia and the Qaidam basin in western China.

• The world’s largest deposit is in Bolivia, where the Uyuni desert holds more than 30 percent of known reserves. However, Bolivia has yet to produce commercial quantities of lithium.

• The U.S. Geological Survey identifies substantial lithium deposits in places as diverse as Austria, Afghanistan, India, Spain, Sweden, Ireland, and Zaire, but has not yet classified these deposits.

As we’ve stated before on this site, matching local energy needs to the kind of energy that is readily available in an area and diversifying sources and types of energy will help alleviate over reliance on one resource. Electric vehicles that run on lithium-ion batteries may be one piece of a greener economy but it can’t be the only one.

- Justin Manger

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