Lithium outlook is bright
Auto electrification is the key, panelists say
Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 10/28/2009 3:38:58 PM
Demand for lithium should expand in coming years for lithium-ion batteries needed to power the next generation of electric and electric hybrid vehicles to meet future "green" air quality requirements. At least that's the view of Jay Chmelauskas, president of supplier Western Lithium in Vancouver, British Columbia, whose large lithium deposit is in Nevada.
"I think that the future of transportation and energy is in electrification and smart grids," he says in a Reuters report on a panel discussion at the Managing Supply Chain Risks for Critical & Strategic Metals conference in Washington.
Light weight, energy efficiency and ability to quickly charge should drive demand from the auto industry for lithium-ion batteries past demand for batteries made from other metals such as lead, nickel and cobalt. "We are recognizing that lithium is perhaps the Holy Grail of the electric vehicle and variations of the electric vehicle," says David L. Trueman, consulting geologist with Avalon Rare Metals in Toronto.
Most lithium comes from Bolivia and the U.S. produces just 3% of the global supply. But, with support from $2 billion in government stimulus, suppliers of the minor metal are betting on a future transportation sector that will run on electric battery technology.
"We are going to have a transportation sector that's electrified, regardless of the sources of electrification," says Yaron Vorona, executive director with the International Lithium Alliance in Washington, D.C. "It's only a matter of time before all cars are electrified. If the future is electric ... and it is, the future is probably in lithium"
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