Oh this won't end well

[Skanky Vamp]

So they've discovered a massive stockpile of Lithium; enough to "dwarf that of the former largest known lithium deposit in the world" with over 132 million tons, enough to fuel the EV supply chain for decades. Not only is it right there nestled between Oregon and Nevada but it would not be as harmful to to environment to mine. It could be a massive shot in the arm to EV and the use of electric "fuels" to finally support the growth that is needed.

Except the location at Thacker Pass is smack dab atop sacred land. The Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone and Burns Paiute have started lawsuits to prevent the mining and are prepared for a long drawn out battle, already constructing billboards to support their cause.

I can't imagine at the end of the day that they will value life over lithium.

 

[thrasherpix]

I expect it will remain cost effective to continue to use children (and mothers with babies strapped to their back) to mine as slaves (thus reducing price) in a foreign nation than to operate by even current American working conditions, so other than acquiring it, nobody will probably be in a hurry to exploit it...not until working conditions have deteriorated even further in the US, or they can effectively and cheaply use robots (or the other mines dry up).

 

[ILLYRIAN]

You'd think that some folk might want to help save the planet and as such mankind.

 

[November]

They blow up sacred sites for mining every year here. The money definitely wins in the end.

 

[Moptop]

The Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone and Burns Paiute have started lawsuits to prevent the mining........

Is that actually to protect their sacred lands or is it so they can affirm their ownership so they can make the money on any mining that goes on there?

You'd think that some folk might want to help save the planet and as such mankind.

And that would be very easy to do by STOP pushing inferior electric cars that use lithium batteries all together. That would also save our economy. It would kill two "bad" birds with one stone!

 

[Ethan Reigns]

They could mine on a slant so that the mine may start in unoccupied land and go under the contested land. My son-in-law works at a belt manufacturing company and every once in a while, they get an order for a mining conveyor belt that weighs six tons. Material is taken a long way on a succession of belts with about a quarter mile on each.

Electric cars have a problem: the long charge times. Apartment buildings usually do not have charging stations, so a lot of people will have to spend hours at a station in some high-crime neighbourhood after work but away from home waiting for their cars to charge. It is only suitable for homeowners with a few thousand to spend on a charging station.

I see a lot of Tesla cars in our neighbourhood but electric has maybe a couple of percent penetration into the market. The electrical grid can tolerate going a bit higher but not all that much. We would need a few new nuclear reactors to satisfy the need. But then, we need one new nuclear reactor to provide processing power for mining cryptocurrency anyway. One thing is certain - renewable energy is too erratic to rely on.

 

[November]

Lithium batteries blowing up are in the news every week here. It would be horrific if a carpark full of electric cars charging under a block of apartments caught fire. It's been bad enough with e-scooters in hotels!

 

[Skanky Vamp]

They could mine on a slant so that the mine may start in unoccupied land and go under the contested land.

That made me think of

 

[NotASlayer]

Electric cars have a problem: the long charge times. Apartment buildings usually do not have charging stations, so a lot of people will have to spend hours at a station in some high-crime neighbourhood after work but away from home waiting for their cars to charge. It is only suitable for homeowners with a few thousand to spend on a charging station.

There are only a handful of publicly-accessible charging points within about 10 minutes of me. A lot of the houses could, in theory, install their own, but that would be a significant outlay; at a minimum, the charging point, plus potentially having to run electricity to where it will be charged and perhaps adding access as well. And those who can afford to buy an electric car - they are not cheap - and install the charging points tend to live in other areas.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

they are not cheap

It depends on what you consider cheap. There are quite a few "cheap" options for electric vehicles when compared to current car prices. There are a handful of options around 30k new, and for me, that's considered cheap.

 

[thrasherpix]

I heard--secondhand--that the battery had to be replaced regularly, and was so expensive that the one who did so got rid of his electric car...especially when he learned that the batteries weren't biodegradable in the way he thought.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I heard--secondhand--that the battery had to be replaced regularly, and was so expensive that the one who did so got rid of his electric car...especially when he learned that the batteries weren't biodegradable in the way he thought.

Well, considering all the EVs sold nowadays have a minimum 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty I don't know if it's still the issue it may have been in the past. The people (granted, they are but a few) I know haven't had any issue with the batteries and they've got 40k+ miles on them. Except for people leaving rude notes when they were using a faster charging station than their battery would allow.

If you do need to replace a battery it's usually prorated by how much charge it has left and hours of use. Buy yeah, they are pretty expensive to replace if not covered by warranty.

EVs are the way to go. Without a doubt.
Once we actually have the infrastructure in place to better support them.

 

[TriBel]

There are only a handful of publicly-accessible charging points within about 10 minutes of me.

Is it okay to run an extension cable from the living room, down the road and across a roundabout to the car-park where you left the car? Asking for a friend.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Is it okay to run an extension cable from the living room, down the road and across a roundabout to the car-park where you left the car? Asking for a friend.

Not necessarily a car park, but they do have people that run an extension cord from their house, down a sidewalk, past other cars, to charge theirs. They are even making big, metal "arms" now to wrap your extension cord around and through to keep it off of the sidewalk so people aren't tripping.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

And the cost of them extension cables is?
How about renting space to charge your car?

 

[Skanky Vamp]

How about renting space to charge your car?

With the exception of that one Tesla, cars cannot go in space yet. And you'd need a really long extension cord if they could.

 

[nightshade]

Once we actually have the infrastructure in place to better support them.

I think it's going to be a long time before that happens, plus as @TriBel says not everyone can park outside their own property, so they would have to pay in a public, probably paying car park, to charge the car.

The other issue is the cost of the cars, and how affordable they are for those that only buy cheap second/third+ hand cars.

Is there going to be a secondhand electric car market, that's going to be affordable if they need new batteries?

 

[NotASlayer]

Is it okay to run an extension cable from the living room, down the road and across a roundabout to the car-park where you left the car? Asking for a friend.

Well, I already decided that running an extension cable out of the house and across the pavement to a layby was probably not the best idea, so going to go with "no" on that one...

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I think it's going to be a long time before that happens, plus as @TriBel says not everyone can park outside their own property, so they would have to pay in a public, probably paying car park, to charge the car.

But the thing is, it doesn't matter if you can charge at home or not. They have chargers at grocery stores, restaurants, malls, libraries, etc. The idea that the consumer "has" to charge at home is a non-factor once more fast chargers are in place.

Is there going to be a secondhand electric car market, that's going to be affordable if they need new batteries?

There already is. You can buy a used EV here (and granted we are not a huge EV market compared to a coast) for 10k. As far as needing new batteries it's the same as an engine. And engine with 100k miles is cheaper than one with 20k. So I don't see that being an issue.

 

[NotASlayer]

But the thing is, it doesn't matter if you can charge at home or not. They have chargers at grocery stores, restaurants, malls, libraries, etc. The idea that the consumer "has" to charge at home is a non-factor once more fast chargers are in place.

That's the problem. Here, we don't have that. As I mentioned, there are only a handful of public charging points within a ten minute drive of me. That's for tens of thousands of people. The government is already talking about banning non-electric cars without any support infrastructure, either for charging or a second hand vehicle market.