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Searching For Lithium Deposits With Satellites (economist.com)
A group led by Cristian Rossi, an expert on remote sensing, is using satellites already in orbit to detect and map geological and botanical features that might betray the presence of subterranean lithium. Though satellite prospecting of this sort has been employed before, reads a new report in The Economist, to look for metals such as gold and copper, using it to search for lithium is new. From the report, which may be paywalled: The searchers are not searching blind. They know, from mining records dating from the mid-1800s, that there is lithium in Cornwall's rocks. Those records tell of underground springs containing salts of lithium -- at that time quite a recently discovered element. Back then these springs were seen, at best, as curiosities, and at worst as flooding risks, because there was then no market for the metal. Today, there is. In particular, lithium is the eponymous component of lithium-ion batteries. These power products ranging from smartphones to electric cars, and are being tested as a means of grid-scale electricity storage which could make the spread of renewable energy much easier. No surprise, then, that prices have been rising. In 2008 a tonne of lithium carbonate cost around $6,000. Now it would set you back more than $12,000.
You just look for plants that have really good battery life growing above the lithium deposits.
So much for cheap batteries.
A Tesla battery contains about 60 kg of lithium, which comes from about 320 kg of lithium carbonate. At $12k per ton, that costs about $4k, which is only 5% of the cost of the car.
Bring on the Molten salt grid storage batteries instead of wasting the Lithium there.
I never understood the appeal of lithium for grid storage, since weight of a stationary battery is not an issue.
This would be a good use for the Qattara Depression. It is 133 m below sea level (twice as deep as Death Valley), and only 50 km of relatively flat ground from the Mediterranean Sea. As an extra bonus, the Med is already significantly saltier than the Atlantic or Pacific.
We invaded Iraq for their oil, now we can invade Egypt for their salt.
Where's the story about cobalt production? That's a bigger bottleneck than lithium.
There are alternatives to cobalt, such as manganese, which is plentiful. There is no substitute for lithium.
Add about another kbuck for cobalt. Estimate for the 85kwh is about 42 lbs of cobalt which would run about a k. Cobalt trades around 23/lb. Cobalt is actually harder to find than lithium. There may be some other expensive components as well. Not sure exactly what else goes into the batteries.
So much for cheap batteries.
A Tesla battery contains about 60 kg of lithium, which comes from about 320 kg of lithium carbonate. At $12k per ton, that costs about $4k, which is only 5% of the cost of the car.
Bring on the Molten salt grid storage batteries instead of wasting the Lithium there.
I never understood the appeal of lithium for grid storage, since weight of a stationary battery is not an issue.
I can understand why Tesla (and others) would use them for home units but I don't consider it ideal for large / utility storage.
Speaking of molten-salt, Sumitomo is years overdue on their promised low-temp molten-salt battery and have gone quiet about it.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
"Though satellite prospecting of this sort has been employed before, reads a new report in The Economist, to look for metals such as gold and copper, using it to search for lithium is new."
Nope, I've been using ASTER and LANDSAT 7/8 for years to do mineral-specific prospecting. I just finished a trip out to Lavic near the 29 Palms bombing range hunting boron and lithium minerals.
These guys are what's new, not the technology nor technique.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
I never understood the appeal of lithium for grid storage, since weight of a stationary battery is not an issue.
When you have a hammer every problem looks like a nail. Tesla with their huge lithium supply chain and huge lithium battery manufacturing capabilities are hardly going to invest significant research into alternatives like vanadium redox. Not unless something forces the hand of the business.
That is hardly plausible because that would make it use 900 grams of lithium per kWh. That would be outrageously poor usage of lithium in a field where around 200 grams per kWh is the norm, depending on battery chemistry used. See page 16 here.
Ezekiel 23:20
Thank you, I was about to write that same thing. That 60 kg figure must be carbonate, not metal.
The reversible lithium intercalation reaction between carbon and cobalt oxide is 11,2 kWh/kg. So for a Model 3 LR-sized LiCoO2/C battery, that's only 7kg of lithium. Of course, you have to increase that a bit because not all lithium will be available for intercalation at any given point of time. But that would strongly argue for 60 kg being carbonate, not metal.
This states that a 2Ah 18650 of the type Tesla uses in the Model S and X contain 0,6g of lithium (metal). Tesla's are 3285 mAh, so 0,975g per cell. At 4,2V per cell, that would be 0,0714 kg/kWh. So for a Model 3 LR-sized battery, that comes out to 6kg of lithium.
Let's be pessimistic and say 9kg of Li metal in a Model 3 LR. At 18,7% lithium, the carbonate equivalent is 48kg. And let's go with a price of $14/kg. That's $126 for the lithium. At 0,2kg cobalt per kWh, that's 16,1kg cobalt. At $80/kg, that's $1288. At a 5:1 nickel cobalt ratio, that's 1kg nickel per kWh. At $13/kg, that's $1046. Everything else in a pack is a mixture of alumium, manganese, organic electrolytes, carbon, silicon, copper wiring, a wide range of plastics, etc. Let's go with an average of $2/kg for the remainder. Tesla's Model 3 LR packs (not individual cells) are (roughly) rated by the EPA at 150Wh/kg. That comes out to 537kg. The other way we can analyze it is compare the 80,5kWh LR pack to the 80,5*31/46=54,25kWh SR pack (26,25kWh difference) and the 121kg difference between packs, which would suggest 371kg. Let's go with 450kg. So ~345kg that's not nickel/cobalt/lithium, or $690. Summing it all up: $3150 of raw materials. Or $39 per kWh.
$39/kWh while demand is outpacing supply. Even less when prices return to their historic levels.
Battery packs are, and will continue to be for the time being, limited by production costs, not raw material costs. Hence the reason why first Tesla - and now everyone - has pursued the strategy of "go big".
It's time for Operation Crazy Plan.