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Tesla's gigafactory is a cool idea but not really sustainable
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:16 pm
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:16 pm
All of it depends on using graphite, lithium, cobalt and nickel to produce batteries. All of these supplies exist in limited quantities.
Benchmark Material Intelligence Blog
Updated March 2017 article
Question...
Where will all these raw materials come from in order to continue producing car batteries and make electric vehicles more prevalent?
Cobalt and Graphite are not mined here in the U.S. Neither is lithium or nickel in any sustainable quantity.
Benchmark Material Intelligence Blog
quote:
The company explained that the lithium ion battery plant, through its dense layout which was designed through Computer Aided Design, has allowed it to significantly boost capacity to 150GWh.
The real concern now is whether there will be enough raw material to fuel not only a 150GWh Gigafactory but also the major growth that is being seen in China where at least 7 lithium ion megafactories are being built.
The answer is no.
quote:
At three times the size, Tesla will need to source 110,000 tpa of coated spherical graphite, 75,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide, and 21,000 tonnes of cobalt. These are astonishing volumes, not only because they are for one customer, but because they will completely reshape battery raw material industries.
Updated March 2017 article
quote:
“Later this year, we expect to finalize locations for Gigafactories 3, 4 and possibly 5 (Gigafactory 2 is the Tesla solar plant in New York),” CEO, Elon Musk explained.
quote:
The Gigafactory 1 is expected to require over 5,000 tonnes of cobalt, 28,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide and 42,000 tonnes of graphite anode material every year at a 35GWh capacity of new cell production. At the moment, a Gigafactory at capacity would not be able to source the lithium hydroxide needed. It simply does not exist in a lithium market that is operating very close to capacity.
Question...
Where will all these raw materials come from in order to continue producing car batteries and make electric vehicles more prevalent?
Cobalt and Graphite are not mined here in the U.S. Neither is lithium or nickel in any sustainable quantity.
15
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:18 pm to texag7
Musk has it all figured out, just wait til he unveils his hyper lithium mining loop.
Game changer
Game changer
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:20 pm to texag7
Musk is the ultimate con man
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:26 pm to texag7
nothing about modern batteries are sustainable or environmentally friendly.
Until organic batteries come out, electric cars do far more damage to the environment than the other options.
Until organic batteries come out, electric cars do far more damage to the environment than the other options.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:26 pm to RobbBobb
Yeah, SpaceX is such an obvious long-con. Just a billionaire moocher! Sad!
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:35 pm to notsince98
quote:
nothing about modern batteries are sustainable or environmentally friendly.
Pretty much. All of the lithium and cobalt are coming from dirty mines in the Congo and China. And they will need to be expanded vastly to meet demand
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:39 pm to texag7
quote:
Pretty much. All of the lithium and cobalt are coming from dirty mines in the Congo and China. And they will need to be expanded vastly to meet demand
Nobody cares about clean air and water anymore. They would rather attack plant food. This world is crazy.
This post was edited on 6/28/17 at 12:57 pm
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:40 pm to rbWarEagle
quote:hes just trying to get to 55 cancri e and keep its 26.9 nonillion dollars worth of diamonds for himself.
Yeah, SpaceX is such an obvious long-con. Just a billionaire moocher! Sad!
thats: $26,900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
0.0182 percent of that = roughly 50 trillion
This post was edited on 6/28/17 at 12:42 pm
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:42 pm to texag7
The people think that these systems have no environmental impact should check out the open pit mines that the raw materials are recovered from.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:44 pm to MastrShake
Probably wants to turn it into some cultural-Marxist utopia.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:45 pm to TrueTiger
quote:
The people think that these systems have no environmental impact should check out the open pit mines that the raw materials are recovered from.
all energy has negative externalities.
Musk thinks big. Really big. So far, he has done amazing things and I love his vision and drive. Plus dude is fricking hysterical.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:47 pm to TrueTiger
quote:
The people think that these systems have no environmental impact should check out the open pit mines that the raw materials are recovered from.
And the trade-off is worth it. Let's not act like mountaintop removal, logging, etc. are clean either.
It's the price of progress. But you should strive to be as environmentally friendly as practicable
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:50 pm to texag7
quote:What do you think the word "sustainable" means?
Where will all these raw materials come from in order to continue producing car batteries and make electric vehicles more prevalent?
Cobalt and Graphite are not mined here in the U.S. Neither is lithium or nickel in any sustainable quantity.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:51 pm to bmy
quote:
And the trade-off is worth it.
It's honestly not. All of these massive factories being built, mining and demand on finite elements to produce battery cars that are a fraction of the amount of cars in the world.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:51 pm to texag7
quote:Yeah, these demands on finite elements are outrageous. We should switch to the infinite elements.
It's honestly not. All of these massive factories being built, mining and demand on finite elements to produce battery cars that are a fraction of the amount of cars in the world.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:52 pm to Iosh
quote:
What do you think the word "sustainable" means?
Sustainable meaning ability for Elon to use U.S. mines to get nickel and lithium.
The amount of nickel and lithium produced here are too small to be used for sustainable production over the next few years
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:54 pm to Iosh
quote:
Yeah, these demands on finite elements are outrageous.
Well the demand is already not sustainable for production and we've been doing this for what, a handful of years?
That's coming from the people who monitor these resources.
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:55 pm to texag7
quote:So sustainable meaning something-other-than-sustainable
Sustainable meaning ability for Elon to use U.S. mines
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:55 pm to texag7
Supercapacitors
Posted on 6/28/17 at 12:55 pm to LSUnation78
He is going to unveil his factory that creates lithium. That factory runs on helium.
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