China is the largest producer of lithium batteries, may the world be in trouble
In the last 1 year, there has been a 4-fold increase in lithium, lighter than wood, without this metal electric cars cannot be made because electric cars run on batteries. In addition to the battery which is charged and discharged repeatedly, a Lithium battery is also used to store green energy in cars, mobile phones, laptops, electric bikes, electric bicycles and in the coming times. Many countries are working on electric vehicles leaving diesel and petrol vehicles, so in such a situation the demand for lithium will increase even more in the coming times, but the matter of concern is that there are limited reserves of lithium in the world in 2021. The investment bank had released a report according to which reserves in lithium could be exhausted by 2025. This is a matter of great concern, so on this, we have brought some questions and their answers with you in this post.
First question why is battery important?
So it is known to all that to store energy electricity, we use battery, then use it. Talking about the history of batteries, the world’s first battery was made 200 years ago, but that battery did not store so much power. After that, the lead-acid battery was made in 1830, but the lead-acid battery, is the most lasting even today, but it is quite heavy LithiumCompared to the battery. 200 years ago, a car was made 200 years ago, in which lead-acid battery was also used, due to which it was not successful. . Their weight was much less than before and it used to store more energy than the lead-acid battery, so after this, the scientists thought that why not make an electric car from this battery, then this dream of the scientists came true when they made it successful by making a car with this lithium battery. Lithium is very important to meet the needs of green energy, but their reserves are very less, according to the report, but will be exhausted for the next 3 years. Because mining is happening a lot, in the coming time we will have to find more sources for it.
Where are the largest reserves of lithium found?
Chile has the largest reserves of lithium in the world, besides it is also mined in Argentina and Australia, as there are some lakes between Argentina and Chile that have now dried up. The saltwater of these lakes has now turned into salt. It is called the Salt Flats, there are large deposits of lithium in the white-looking plains of Chilli. Saline water is present under this layer of salt which is extracted through drilling. And make it together and spread it in big ponds. Lithium is very much present in this saltwater and then during evaporation, the water dries up and lithium is extracted from it. After extraction, it is refined after it is exported. These plains of Chilli are very attractive to companies, but there are different problems associated with its mining because the tribal community living here is dependent on these limited water sources, where water is scarce, and due to the mining of lithium. Where the water level has gone down further. Due to this these tribals have to work even harder for water, On one side the people living near the salt flats are strongly opposing the mining of lithium and on the other hand, the politicians are confused as to who should get the profit from mining and the people living here are saying that the mining is done by private companies. No, the government should be occupied so that the people there can get its benefits. If we look on the other side, the world is moving towards green energy, due to which the demand for lithium is also increasing because, on the one hand, the world has to encourage electric vehicles to eliminate carbon. And on the other hand, the reserves of lithium are also to be discovered. After this, if we talk about China, which is the largest consumer market.
What is the importance of China in the lithium market?
China uses 4 out of every 10 batteries used worldwide, China is also ahead of others in its production. 77% of the world’s total production is produced in China, after all, why is there such a huge stock in China’s possession? China had planned to work on it only in 2001. In the year 2002, China started planning to make electric cars. Invested in Australia’s mining. At a summit in 2021, 40 countries agreed to stop selling diesel and petrol cars by 2040, but China’s already investing is affecting lithium supplies to others and China’s large batteries around the world. being liked. Prior to 2015, the lithium battery made in Japan was considered the best, but after 2015, the lithium battery made in China has overtaken Japan. Due to Chinese investment, a company like Tesla has also set up its factory in China, we can say about China where there is production as well as the consumer. On the other hand, talking about America, it is not so there because cars are being made there, but the batteries of cars are being ordered from China itself. This is the biggest challenge for America and other countries. One solution may be to recycle the batteries imported from China to another country, but this has not been possible so far. Talking about now, the struggle for raw materials is not so fast, from now onwards the raw material will have to be arranged or some alternative will have to be found, in 2012 around 130000 worldwide electric cars were sold, this figure increased to 30 lakhs by 2020, reaching 66 lakhs in 2021. Experts believe that this market will be more than 100 billion dollars in the coming time.
Countries who want to be a part of it will have what option then?
Lithium is most refined in China, and China is also ahead in the whole world in making batteries. In such a situation, if China raises prices, then the whole world may be in trouble. But the question again comes whether there is an alternative to lithium, and batteries can be made from metal, but there is some drawback in all, but there is a special reason to make batteries in lithium. Right now the use of hydrogen fuel has also increased in the auto industry, but it is not possible to expect more, because hydrogen is very expensive and much energy cannot be stored, 10 years ago today lithium batteries used to be very expensive but today their prices have fallen by 90 per cent. Whatever the auto industry is like an electric car, only lithium battery will be successful inside it and only China has the largest reserves of lithium, just as China is at the forefront in making solar panels, in the same way in lithium battery also. China will stay ahead. If America wants more stake in it, then China will have to invest more. can go. But western countries are also working on this, but western countries are also not lagging behind like Tesla is building Gigafactory to make batteries in America, similarly lithium in Britain. There is a plan to build a Giga factory there too. But to meet their energy needs in the future, the big idiots will have to depend on China because it is a very long race, and it can take a long time. Carmakers around the world will have to run on batteries made in China.
