Battery Debate May Be Academic

For automakers, the question of hybrid electric and electric vehicle batteries grows more complex each day. From the engineering perspective, a car is an extremely large (read: heavy) piece of equipment, with complex electrical controls and accessories. To provide enough electrical power to move the car at practical speeds, incorporate precise power management and power the accessories that consumers want, the batteries had better be good. Really, really good.

For environmentalists and consumer advocates, the batteries in a hybrid car are potentially dangerous to the environment, not to mention that they're insanely expensive and have a historical tendency to explode. (To be fair, you can also get a conventional lead-acid battery to explode, compliments of gases that can escape the battery.)

For protectionists and policy advocates, battery production capability needs to be local. Most auto batteries are made in Asia right now, and some people are concerned that a massive foray into electric and hybrid electric vehicles would mean that North America and Europe are just trading dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign batteries.

In short, batteries had better be powerful, safe, cost-effective and readily available. From a technology perspective, Li-ion batteries provide the best energy density (balanced with safety and cost) of the current battery formulations on the market.

Unfortunately, one of the primary components of Li-ion batteries – lithium – isn't widely available. In fact, lithium is the least common of the first twenty elements on the periodic chart. Lithium is widely distributed around the Earth, but the concentrations of the metal in its elemental form are extremely low. Small amounts of lithium are found in rocks, the oceans and other geological formations, but these are not readily accessible. The largest known deposit of lithium, which accounts for about half of the world's reserves, is found under the salt flats of Bolivia.

The major automotive and battery manufacturers that have approached Bolivia regarding the possibility of tapping into the country's lithium reserves have all been sent away empty-handed. Bolivia isn't particularly interested in parting with its lithium without getting something really, really good in return. What Bolivia really wants in exchange for its lithium is to become a star on the world's geo-political scene. And that, according to Bolivian president Evo Morales, is non-negotiable.

For now, the world's supplies of lithium are coming from Argentina, Chile and Tibet, but the availability of lithium itself, perhaps moreso than the location of the worlds Li-ion battery production facilities, will drive automotive battery design, cost and the speed at which the automotive industry can move away from petroleum for years to come.

Photo Credit: Bionerd, via Flickr