Posted on 06/08/2017 3:42:57 PM PDT by Lorianne
A perfect storm is brewing in the 21st-Century energy market, and it has nothing to do with OPEC.
It’s about batteries that charge everything from mainstream electric cars to massive power walls and mountains of consumer electronics.
More specifically, it’s about what goes into those batteries—and it’s not just lithium.
The other element that makes up 35 percent of the lithium-ion batteries mass produced at Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) Nevada gigafactory—and at a dozen of other behemoths slated to come on line—is cobalt.
And it’s already in dramatically short supply.
A part of the answer to the cobalt deficit is 100 percent American, and this little-known miner is sitting on a prime Idaho cobalt project that is one of only two that looks likely to come online in the U.S.— and it’s right in Tesla’s backyard.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
That's a badge of honor here at Free Republic.
Beautiful!
When they first came out I saw a few. On trailers headed for service. Now I see them everywhere I go. Running. Some long trips too.
This explains the sudden PR avalanche of “the inevitably of autonomous cars” which of course are all ways unexblicably linked to publically shared electric vehicles ...
My 1968 Ford is getting close to being finished and on the road. It’ll have a battery to help start the 500hp gasoline engine in it. That and some electric accessories is as soon to electric as I expect to ever be.
Not as long as we have coal and nuclear. Energy efficiency in the form of more efficient appliances and LED lighting is reducing energy consumption in those traditional areas which can be used for EV recharging.
To those who say EVs are not a big part of the future, I say “Just watch”...
Good point. That “boom” is kind of like the sparks that result from when you hit a piece of concrete with a hammer.
They’ll find something else to make batteries out of or store energy differently.
Sponsored article. i.e. advertisement
Was there a boom? The tech’s just not there yet. It’s good stuff to work on, developing the tech, but it’s not ready for primetime.
“My 1968 Ford is getting close to being finished “
Ditto my 67 Camaro. Only 400HP.
“How many HP does it have with a dead battery, and the electric grid knocked out?”
Are you kidding? A Tesla would be the ideal car in such a scenario, but you would need to go solar. And that’s part of the whole Tesla paradigm.
If I could afford to go completely off-grid to insulate myself from a cataclysmic event like you described, a Tesla would be my first choice for a car. All-electric. Low maintenance. Safe. Can outrun pretty much anything on the road including most motorcycles.
US Cobalt is a penny stock that looks like it’s being pumped and about to be dumped.
To say nothing of the fossil fuels that generate electricity to run these things.
Same as a car with no petroleum. If the grid goes down, there won't be any gas replenishment, and what's at the local Circle K will run out quickly, if you can manage to get it out of the underground tank.
I love old muscle cars and Hellcats and C7 corvettes as much as any car guy, but electric is superior in just about every way, except range and ease of refueling. Matter of time. You make the same arguments that were made by the buggy whip manufacturers regarding horseless carriages, or by the Horse and Wagon operators against steam engines.
Once battery technology leaps again, electrics will be everywhere. Just watch and see.
I’d love to have an electric car but I’d still need a “regular” car for longer distances. An electric car doesn’t make sense for me.
As well they should. Used lithium ion batteries aren't exactly recycle friendly. See below. But bear in mind they're the same types of people who voted overwhelmingly at one of their conferences to ban that universal solvent Di-Hydrous Oxide (H2O). Science and logic aren't their strong suits.
This writer does not know about markets and probably thinks things and prices are "allocated." His two sentences are mirror reflections of each other. There is no "but."
The problem with eCars is the long recharge time and not the range. Yet range is all they talk about. eCars are just not convenient.
“So if they factor in the fuel costs for charging the batteries, I wonder what the real MPG for electric cars amounts to?”
It is about the equivalent of $1 per gallon of gas. It is cheaper to fill up, but it takes forever to offset the high price and the battery pack replacement every so often.
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