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0 pointsSupermancho1y ago0 comments

> Does it not seem like electric vehicles will eventually swallow the world?

I don't believe so. As I understand it, there are not enough rare metals available, with the known battery technologies. I don't think will ever be the production capacity to construct and maintain (replace) electric-based equivalents to the solutions fossil fuels fit. Fossil fuels came to dominance because of a number of maximal equations. eg The energy demand to move goods, on the scale of trains, is impractical. Operating electronics in extreme temperatures, is impractical.

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kieranmaine1y ago

From "Most electric-car batteries could soon be made by recycling old ones" - https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/09/19/...

Apologies for the paywalled article. The following quote sums up the article:

"Globally, the mining of raw ingredients for battery manufacturing could peak by the mid 2030s, reckons RMI, an American think-tank. This will be caused by a combination of better recycling and continuing advances in battery chemistry, which boosts the energy density of cells so that batteries can be made with fewer raw materials. This, RMI believes, might see mineral extraction for batteries being avoided altogether by 2050."

SupermanchoOP1y ago

> This will be caused by a combination of better recycling and continuing advances in battery chemistry, which boosts the energy density of cells so that batteries can be made with fewer raw materials

This is a hope, at best. For better or worse, I wouldn't bet on it. I don't think electric vehicles will "eat the world" in the foreseeable (or farther) future.

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