The Expert Podcast

electric vehicles are on the rise More and more dealers and manufacturers are pushing electric vehicles as opposed to gasoline vehicles internal combustion vehicles. But is there…a. Serious obstacle…to prevent the full widespread adoption of these vehicles. Obviously we've heard about, the charging station problem where maybe there's not enough places for these vehicles to plug in and recharge. we've heard a lot about the pricing of these vehicles being 15 or 20% higher than a standard gasoline vehicle. Well maybe there's something else behind the scenes that might even be a bigger problem According to the wall street journal. wall street journal article. Toyota executive warns that electric vehicles face obstacles to wider adoption. Sure High prices charging stations are problem, but. Besides that there may be a problem with actually building these cars in the first place. The place with the most lithium is blowing the electric car revolution A California size piece of south America is stifling production of the metal. When battery makers need it the most what's going on here will in Chile. There's a huge. Mine of lithium which is more than half of the known deposits of the metal. Which is the key component building that Evie battery which is really the core component of electric vehicle. So more than half of the lithium is in Chile. And there's a Chinese company called BYD. That has contracted to mine This. Lithium. Elemental material. Nevermind The fact that it's a Chinese company that is mining this maybe that could create some supplier availability issues. But this company won the contract to mine The lithium. What. It's going on though is the country itself of Chile. Is having a pushback, a backlash against this mining operation…The residents of the country took to the streets demanding that the contract has to be. because it's going to affect the environment water supplies. And other, issues. The Supreme court of the country throughout the contract saying the government failed to consult with the local residents First, according to. Spokespeople in the country They want to produce more lithium meaning their contract but we're the ones who pay the price. Meaning the local residents, according to the expert at the U S geological survey USG S. All the major car makers are completely on board with electric vehicles, but the lithium may not be enough…Let that sink in. There may not be enough lithium. Look isn't the whole reason to switch to electric vehicles to get away from fossil fuels. And to help the environment…Many years ago I can remember in the seventies and eighties, there was a very serious concern that we were going to run out of oil. To make into gasoline for cars. And so that was the reason that part of the…environmental or cut back on oil, fossil fuel. Usage and production started because they thought we were going to run out Well it turns out we weren't running out They did. Other methods of extraction. And so the supply actually fixed itself, but then there's the environmental problem…Fossil fuel usage and combustion. Is. Yeah part of the the idea is that it contributes to environmental degradation. Whether it's short At a whole different story but that's the reason. Four. Going to electric vehicles. Well, the question is, is mining this lithium any better ? For the environment. Then. Oil production. And. That doesn't even take into account whether or not the electricity. Generation has any environmental impact…Leaving all that aside The big question is. Can we build enough electric vehicles ? All the car makers are completely on board, but the lithium may not be enough. Brian, just Schoola lithium expert at the U S G S that's a government agency. by the way, a biologist in the country said that the mining has caused nearby lagoons to dry up damages irreversible. That's the lithium mining in Chile. So what does that mean for the marketplace Well, the executive vice-president for Toyota says that you can talk all you want about EVs the marketplace isn't mature enough. What does that mean ? Well the high sticker prices and poor charging infrastructure will keep customers from widely embracing it. But he also talked about the rising material costs or lithium cobalt. But more importantly. I don't think the market is ready for what the rhetoric is saying. And this comes from Toyota which really. Kind of…spearheaded…hybrid and electric vehicles. think about electric vehicle Toyota Prius This is even before Tesla. Prius was the first real hybrid mass market vehicle. In their executive vice-president is saying that it could be a problem Let us know what you think in the comments are EVs The thing. Or is it going to take longer than they anticipate And in the meantime what's that going to do for the car market ? When the manufacturers are in between gas and electric ? They don't want to build more gas because they know Electric's coming but we're not ready for electric Is there going to be. A period in between where there's not going to be enough cars where the car market's going to get even worse in terms of availability. That no one has a car to drive. And the market can't keep up.