Don't buy a car.

[vetran]

Did batteries exist before Lithium was used in them? Is it therefore perceivable that batteries could exist without needing Lithium?

Its not just lithium. But if manufacturers see price rises they may well look harder at alternatives.

Will Toyota’s new battery design solve the looming shortage of vital metals for renewables? - Energy Post

We all know the important part played by lithium in battery manufacture. But there is a longer list of metals – including copper, cobalt and neodymium – that must ramp up supply for the continued rapid growth of EVs, solar, wind and other renewables technologies. EVs alone will increase the consumption of copper nine-fold by 2027. Cobalt prices already doubled in 2017. Neodymium use will rise by 700% in the next few decades to satisfy our need for renewables. Parakram Pyakurel takes the measure of the supply and demand for these critical materials, and looks at how Toyota is responding to the challenge.

If we went Hydrogen for vehicles we could save the materials for renewable energy.

The share of renewable energy (excluding hydro) in global electricity generation was around 8.4% in 2017. As their share rises, we must deal with the scarcity of critical metals and other minerals required by renewable energy systems. These materials include lithium, copper, cobalt and the rare earth elements. We are already seeing the effects renewables are having on their supply.

[rogerfederer]

If only there were a national network of convenient locations where one could refuel in under 5 minutes and be on one's way.

We don't, as drivers of cars, see the roadmaps for each company for 5/10/20/30 years. They keep these things secret to maintain competitive advantage.

Fossil fuels are over for developed countries. Once a portable, reliable charging method for vehicles is found for developing countries that require less fiddling, fixing and maintaining, then these technologies will be supported there too.

Nobody expects an overnight change, but at first a gradual increase in facilities followed by a rapid uptake as they become the only thing on sale.

[AtW]

You tell 'em sas

[Mordac]

Did batteries exist before Lithium was used in them? Is it therefore perceivable that batteries could exist without needing Lithium?

If you had a mobile in the early 90s you'll remember half the phone was actually the battery (and they weren't very mobile). They had Ni-cad batteries, and they were useless. Talk-time was usually measured in minutes, not days.
In 30 years, despite all the R&D cash at the tech giants' disposal, nobody has come up with anything that functions better than lithium. Now we have the car companies (and the 'hybrids' like Tesla) doing the same thing, and we're still stuck with lithium. It is possible that someone will eventually come up with something better (and cleaner) but they haven't yet.

[SueEllen]

If you had a mobile in the early 90s you'll remember half the phone was actually the battery (and they weren't very mobile). They had Ni-cad batteries, and they were useless. Talk-time was usually measured in minutes, not days.
In 30 years, despite all the R&D cash at the tech giants' disposal, nobody has come up with anything that functions better than lithium. Now we have the car companies (and the 'hybrids' like Tesla) doing the same thing, and we're still stuck with lithium. It is possible that someone will eventually come up with something better (and cleaner) but they haven't yet.

Lithium...

Mmmm I know a song about that.

Nirvana - Lithium - YouTube

[DoctorStrangelove]

It’s time to get serious about recycling lithium-ion batteries

5% recycled.

Oh how green is that?

[HoofHearted]

Lithium...

Mmmm I know a song about that.

Nirvana - Lithium - YouTube

Prefer the Evanescence one myself

[SueEllen]

Prefer the Evanescence one myself

The Nirvana one brings back more memories for me....

[jayn200]

It’s time to get serious about recycling lithium-ion batteries

5% recycled.

Oh how green is that?

Didn't read the article but I'll take the 5% as a real number. Should be a solvable problem though.

There are other products with quite high recycle rates because there was programs introduced to incentive recycling. It's a solvable problem that's been solved for other products... But if 5% is a real number then yeah it needs to be tackled.

[vetran]

It must be battery powered transport, this way we can disable all of it on Earth when the imminent invasion begins.

HTH

I for one welcome our new sciurus overlords