Comment on Can Flow Batteries Finally Beat Lithium?

bizzle@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• Viper_NZ@lemmy.nz ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  What makes a lithium iron phosphate battery an ecological nightmare?

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  • bizzle@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If it still relies on mined lithium, it’s some pretty bad stuff. Come to find out mining isn’t super great for the environment.

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    • Viper_NZ@lemmy.nz ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Much of the lithium is mined in Australia or via salt brines in Chile.

      It’s not worse environmentally than the other mined materials that go into a vehicle.

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      • HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        That doesn’t make it a good thing.

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  • JustJack23@slrpnk.net ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Cobalt: earth.org/cobalt-mining/

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    • Viper_NZ@lemmy.nz ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      There is zero cobalt in a lithium iron phosphate battery.

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      • JustJack23@slrpnk.net ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Is that the most commonly used type of batteries in EVs?

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    • Aux@lemmynsfw.com ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      This is irrelevant. First, there are chemistries not using cobalt, as explained already. Second, elemental cobalt is infinitely recyclable as all elemental metals, thus we don’t need to mine that much more, just like we don’t mine as much iron ore as we did centuries ago (relative to overall consumption). Yes, we still mine a lot of iron ore, but we recycle a lot as well.

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      • JustJack23@slrpnk.net ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        This cobalt must be mined first to be recycled later, and being infinity recyclable doesn’t mean it will be, for example if it’s cheaper to mine new cobalt instead of recycling.

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