We just watched the PBS Newshour episode on the frantic search for more lithium to meet future sales of electric vehicles. What a debacle. The latest mining venture is going on at the rapidly-shrinking Salton Sea in Southern California.
For every ton of lithium produced, some 50,000 gallons of water will be needed. And as evidenced by the shrinking Salton Sea, water is increasingly scarce here.
Salton Sea lithium deposits could help EV transition, support economically devastated area
Note: A problem not mentioned in the article is that lithium batteries are powered by coal. This will increase pollution by 400%.
The lithium shortage is one of two “unsolvable” problems involving the push for coal-electric vehicles. The other is a matter of a predicted leap in deaths due to the massive weight in electric cars & trucks.
On January 11, the head of the NTSB (National Transportation Systems Board) voiced a dire warning about a huge increase in deaths due to the weight of EV batteries.
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/11/1148483758/ntsb-heavy-electric-vehicles-safety-risks
The extra weight that EVs typically carry stems from the outsize mass of their batteries. To achieve 300 or more miles (480 or more kilometers) of range per charge from an EV, batteries have to weigh thousands of pounds.
NTSB head warns of risks posed by heavy electric vehicles colliding with lighter cars
WorldKar has done two things to counteract these two unsolvable problems:
- In 2008 WorldKar Corporation’s drivetrain was proven at a leading university to roll back pollution by 90%.
- Our power storage technology & approach stores 10 times as much energy as lithium battery. This means that vehicle weight can be rolled back 2-3,000 pounds, so we can lighten the vehicle.
We have the ONLY solution on the planet to deliver more power, lower cost AND zero pollution.