r/science • u/Sort_of_Frightening • Sep 10 '23

Chemistry Lithium discovery in U.S. volcano could be biggest deposit ever found

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/lithium-discovery-in-us-volcano-could-be-biggest-deposit-ever-found/4018032.article
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u/LunarModule66 Sep 10 '23

I work at a lithium battery startup and have been feeling terrible about the mining conditions in South America. This is such good news. Not only could it make EVs cheaper, but also producing it in the US where there are better environmental and labor protections will hopefully be more ethical.

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u/xiril Sep 11 '23

Cobalt is still red coming from DRC afaik

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u/LunarModule66 Sep 11 '23

Okay but I work at a company that is trying to replace the cobalt, so I can feel better about the impact I’m having.

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u/xiril Sep 11 '23

That's awesome actually

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u/LunarModule66 Sep 11 '23

Yeah it’s lithium sulfur, it has a theoretical range for an EV 10x current Lithium ion batteries, and sulfur is basically trash created by the fossil fuel industry so it’s really cheap.

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u/xiril Sep 11 '23

Is it higher capacity as well or just an alternative or...?

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u/LunarModule66 Sep 11 '23

Short answer is yes.

Long answer is that technically capacity depends on size, but this chemistry has a higher energy density so for the same size battery you get a higher capacity.

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u/xiril Sep 11 '23

Sounds amazing! Here's hoping your company can get it out to the mass scale soon!!