> At current consumption there are ~430yrs of known reserves, with factoring in projected growth, they will last ~200yrs.
So, a doubling every 5? 10? years, if the gigafactory is a start of a trend, rather than the last great battery factory?
Those 200 years would then be cut quite drastically!
[ed: whops, misread "projected growth" for "project growth" (ie: growth due to the gigafactory alone. Still, I think the point stands that accelerating demand could change the sustainability of resources.]
Those 200 years supply refers to currently known reserves, which is to say, lithium whose location is known, has been proven to be present at a certain level, and is economically feasible to extract with current technology. There's lots more lithium out there, there's just not much point looking for or proving its presence yet. That "200 years' reserve" is a small fraction of all the lithium available.
So, a doubling every 5? 10? years, if the gigafactory is a start of a trend, rather than the last great battery factory?
Those 200 years would then be cut quite drastically!
[ed: whops, misread "projected growth" for "project growth" (ie: growth due to the gigafactory alone. Still, I think the point stands that accelerating demand could change the sustainability of resources.]