Re: Fluoroborate Salts.... the new "Salt of the Earth" as applied to Lithium battery electrolytes?
posted on
Aug 20, 2021 09:05AM
IMHO the Lithium madness will continue as long as there is a case to use any Lithium battery chemistry. From the LAC perspective, it does not really matter what salt exactly is going to be used in a cell. At the end of the day and assuming “wet” battery cells, it will always be +/- 60kg of Lithium per light vehicle. And that will determine Lithium demand and LAC prospects.
Hence limits are not the chemistry, but external factors outside of LAC control, such as the ruling to be made next week, the barriers of entry (aka how long it would take to open a Lithium mine), state of US/EU/China economy and capacity allocated to produce electricity for the charging infrastructure. US is likely doomed on the economical front. The so called transitory inflation will inevitably cripple the middle class. And US does not have enough power generators for conversion of existing fleet to EV. This one will not be visible for few more years, as the EV penetration is insignificant (except California of course), my bet is about 10 years from now the EV market will reach its maximum in the US, in EU it will be bit longer. China unlike EU/US is massively investing into the power generation, so they may get further than maybe 40% market share....