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Just as gas-powered autos depend on oil, the world’s future fleet of electric cars may well depend on an obscure element now mined in only a handful of places: lithium. Because it is the world’s lightest metal and good at holding a charge, lithium in batteries can deliver the energy electric cars need without weighing them down or requiring frequent recharging stops.
Present in
trace amounts throughout Earth’s oceans and crust, lithium is amazingly
versatile. It can run laptop computers, treat bipolar disorder (in
powdered form, though scientists don’t know exactly how it prevents
mood swings), and even give ceramics a brighter glaze.
Lithium is mined as an ore in rocks and as a mineral suspended in briny solutions found beneath salt flats. In recent years Chile has developed its lithium-rich salt flats to become the world’s top producer. With rising demand, new deposits will have to be tapped—including an estimated 5.95 million tons beneath a high-altitude desert in Bolivia. —Karen E. Lange
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