re: Tesla's gigafactory is a cool idea but not really sustainable

Why buy stuff from Austria when we could build with our materials? Why not make a coal car?

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I agree who cares. That wasn't my point.

The point is that battery production using current technology is not a long term sustainable process. At all

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Then I will again I ask what your definition of "long term sustainable" is. I assume it will be different from your first attempt since we now both agree that whether the metals themselves are domestic or imported is irrelevant to sustainability.

Do you mean "there is a limited amount of this metal in the earth's crust so we cannot keep producing Tesla batteries literally forever?" Because that's true of all batteries, as well as all airplanes, all computers, all cell phones, etc. The broader the definition is the more trivial your point will be.

The gigafactories also recycle lithium ion batteries. No clue how much material they use from them currently but I think that's the plan for the future.

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Something that mirrors oil. When internal combustion cars were invented they did not immediately face an issue of oil shortages.

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Are oil shortages an issue now? Last I checked the price had gone right back in the shitter after finally poking above $50/barrel. Been 150 years since the invention of the internal combustion engine and there still seems to be plenty of it.

Simply extrapolating current extraction techniques out to cover the entire Tesla gigafactory model is foolish. If the demand is there, then technology will make extraction more efficient. Mirroring oil.

Helium shortage

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The factory runs on helium

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Know you are joking, but there is actually a huge shortage on helium. It was hard to get a few years ago.

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Tesla's gigafactory is a cool idea but not really sustainable
All of it depends on using graphite, lithium, cobalt and nickel to produce batteries.

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Gee Wally, I wonder where a fella could get his hands on a trillion dollars in untapped natural resources from?

Too bad we have to waste our time fighting those dirty rotten Muslims. A fella could get rich otherwise.

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Furthermore, are these materials only produced in those countries because they literally do not exist anywhere else

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Elements exist everywhere, you can find gold in seawater.

They are produced in those countries because that's where the deposits are concentrated in levels that make it worthwhile for mining.

I just don't see mass electric cars being feasible with today's technology. A slight increase in % of elec cars would lead to millions of tons of new raw materials needed that naturally only exist at 20 ppm levels. Then you have to consider the demand that would place on the power grids and plants.

We need new technology. I am hoping something can be done with aluminum considering how abundant it is.

There was a fricking massive nitrogen/ammonia shortage around WWII.. and our atmosphere is 78% nitrogen.

There are frick tons of lithium on the planet... trillions of tons.

Lithium batteries now.. who knows what comes next? Unlike oil barons Musk is focused on something besides crippling innovation

What has happened and what will happen is innovation. Battery technology has come light years in just 20 or 25 years. There will be some issues with toxic waste and there will be further innovation in battery recycling.

The greens are unlikely to demonize electric cars or their batteries in the short-term, so that should buy Musk and Co. some time to let that develop. Unlike nuclear, which if innovation would have been allowed to solve some of the negative aspects, we would be much further along with - not technically renewable - a strong "non-fossil" base that would allay the greenies concerns about AGW (however well founded or not).

I'm going to make a fortune on my Mini At Home Coal Powered Charger™ for electric cars!