Lithium

[Stealth]

Right now, as I write this, there is a mad scramble between the US, China, and the European and Middle eastern countries to try and discover and recover the most of this precious element. The future belongs to those who posess the most of it. It is used in medicine for depression and bi-polar illnesses. But the biggest use in the near future is in battery technology. The new Lithium Ion batterys are far better than anything built and used so far. They are lighter, charge faster, hold a charge longer, plus they last 1-1/2 times longer than NIMH or NiCads. All automotive companies are going to build an electric car by 2010 or 2011. These cars are going to be using LI-Ion batterys. The current supply of Lithium will not be nearly enough to supply the needed battery manufacturers with enough raw material. All countries are investing billions to discover new supplies of this valuable element. Oil will be slowly replaced with Lithium as the most valuable energy source for our planet.
Would not be a bad investment if the opportunity presented itself. Good Luck. Stealth

[amigo]

A million (or more) dollar question is which one(s) are going to sprout and which ones are not?

Do you have any ideas about prospects...seems like there might be some digging for Li going on in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. But who has the mineral rights and what are the estimates on quality and quantity of ore is another question.

[ANTIQUER]

Health concerns

Stealth;

I really don't think we need millions of tons of another toxin added to our pollution problems. Seems like substituting one problem for another.

Of course the elite don't care, as long as they own the mines. They will blame the long term health effects on something else, as usual.

Myself, I will never own a vehicle powered by a lithium-ion battery, nor buy any device powered by one.

Al

[sucahyo]

I am worry about safety. NIMH and NiCd proof to be safer in term of operational. Dented Lithium, or overheat may make lithium explode. If Mercedes place of battery under seat will become standard. We will sit above an explosive sooner or later. It would be more dangerous than self burning car. Imagine The lithium explode and release the hydrogen bubble and the fire start burning the chair fake leather or plastic dashboard.

Since the door has "security" electric key sequence, once the battery no longer has power you will be stuck inside. Just like the case of wife got locked for hours inside BMW or Mercedes because the husband forgot to open the door for her.

Lithium is standard on cell phone and notebook, it would be hard to avoid it. Just remember to not "wear" your phone right after charging.

[Aromaz]

Stealth;

I really don't think we need millions of tons of another toxin added to our pollution problems. Seems like substituting one problem for another.

Of course the elite don't care, as long as they own the mines. They will blame the long term health effects on something else, as usual.

Myself, I will never own a vehicle powered by a lithium-ion battery, nor buy any device powered by one.

Al

Lithium is expensive, will always be expensive - and more important;
It is a METAl which is recycle-able, recoverable and re-usable unlimited times.
Unless you do change your attitude; you will not be able to upgrade your mobile phone, mobile computer - or even use re-chargable battery!

[CitizenDC]

I've been tinkering with super caps. They really are impressive and are made with activated charcoal.
The most powerful ones I've found that you can buy provide 3000 F @ 2.7v.
This technology so far can provide 12KW of power per KG of capacitor.

These super caps are being made ready to be used within electric cars and the media is really pushing them as the future.
Still batteries are cheaper than capacitors of similar watt rating and provide more power than super caps.

Lets do some maths and compare caps to batteries:

A standard 100 amp hour deep cycle battery can provide approx 1 amp at 12v for 100 hours with the battery weighing at approx 30KG.
12v x 1A X 100h = 1200 Watts over 100 hours.
Measured in seconds, thats 1200watts*3600seconds = 4320000 watts provided over 100 hours worth of seconds.

A 12KW super cap can provide 12v at 1000 amps for approx 1 seconds with the cap weighing 1KG.

How many super caps with output of 12KW will it take to do the same as the battery.
4320000 / 12000 = 360 super caps weighing 360 KG.

So as great as super caps are... they still provide no competition to batteries at this point and production cost wise they are not competitive at this stage at all.

Lithium it is!

[Tishatang]

Toyota developed all electric version of Rav-4 using patented technology of
NiMH batteries, some still on the road. Go here:

GM-VOLT, EV1, RAV4-EV, HondaEV, Plug-in Electric cars and Solar Photo-Voltaic rooftop power are Driving the Future

"GM had the NiMH batteries, and NiMH are still running in Toyota RAV4-EV.
GM sold control of these great batteries to Chevron, which then funded a lawsuit against Toyota, which stopped their use in plug-in cars.
Why does an oil company, CHEVRON, the successor to Standard Oil of California, own control of the only proven EV batteries?

Why search for Lithium, when the NiMH EV1 went over 140 miles on a charge? The search for Lithium ignores existing, proven lead and NiMH batteries, which ran the successful EVs of the past and present.

By searching for Lithium, GM is just delaying again!

GM is posponing production of the so-called VOLT by ignoring proven successful batteries." quote from site