Handheld electronics mostly use lithium polymer batteries (with a polymer gel as electrolyte), a lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO 2) cathode material, and a graphite anode, which together offer a high energy density. According to the Wikipedia entry, chemistry, performance, cost and safety characteristics vary across types of lithium-ion batteries. Li-ion batteries are more than lithium however. But the cost of retail electricity hardly changed.) (The price of petrol, mainly tax, rose +10% in the same time. That NZ Government subsidy may have to be increased as EVs will cost very much more in 2022. It was just NZ$19,300 at the end of July 2021, to a sudden +220% leap in five months. The price has risen very fast since COP26 and now sits at NZ$61,600/tonne. Lithium carbonate is currently very scarce and in hot demand. China's stranglehold on this trade has obvious strategic and geo-political implications that only China is happy about. The water is extracted from scarce below-surface water tables, and will only happen until they run dry.Īfter the lithium carbonate is mined, it is almost all shipped to China (or a few other Asian countries) where it is converted into the material needed for Li-ion batteries. The mined clay is mixed with water and evaporated in vast desert ponds to concentrate the lithium carbonate. Underground brine mining relies on even more water to extract the lithium carbonate – and it takes place in typically very water-scarce parts of the world, leading to indigenous communities questioning their sustainability. Hard rock mining – where the mineral is extracted from open pit mines and then roasted using fossil fuels – leaves scars in the landscape, requires a large amount of water and releases 15 tonnes of CO 2 for every tonne of lithium carbonate. Most lithium carbonate is currently mined in Australia (hard rock mining), Chile or Argentina (underground brine reservoirs). The benefits can be extended to households too with solar photovoltaics and 'wall' storage.īut all this depends on Li-ion batteries, and that depends on mining lithium carbonate. The storage of electricity in rechargeable batteries is also claimed to have other benefits such as emergency power in a crisis. Li-ion batteries are the new standard for automotive power.Īnd the marketing is simple, especially in New Zealand - green energy stored to replace 'dirty' internal combustion engines (ICE) powered by petrol (or sometimes natural gas). Other major car makers are doing the same. New ones are coming for Japan, South Korea and India. Famously, Tesla has build a set of giga-factories (in some sort of partnership with Panasonic until now) in the US (4), China and the EU, churning out Li-ion battery-powered cars. There has been much progress in the manufacture of these electricity storage devices. That battery will almost certainly be a lithium-ion battery. They are handing out subsidies of more than $8000 per car to encourage you to choose a battery-powered EV. It is to find and extract lithium carbonate, so lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries can power our new 'green revolution'.Īnd as you probably know, the New Zealand Government is keen for you to 'electrify', especially your transportation. There is a new 'gold rush' underway in the mining world, one powered by - you.
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