Electric vehicle production is ramping up worldwide. Every car manufacturer is rushing to get their piece of the pie but may run into trouble due to shortage of one key component. The demand is high and it’s creating big issues for Biden’s Electric Vehicle plans.
Electric Vehicle production is proving to be more difficult than expected.
According to The Western Journal. The Biden administration’s goal of reducing gasoline-powered vehicle sales by 50 percent might be stymied by a lithium shortage, one mining executive believes.
Keith Phillips, CEO of Piedmont Lithium, said,“There’s going to be a real crunch to get the material. We don’t have enough in the world to turn that much lithium production in the world by 2035,”
In the past year, lithium prices have almost doubled, with most of the increase coming from outside the U.S. This is in opposition to the North American component requirement of the Inflation Reduction Act tax credit.
Last week, Piedmont Lithium announced plans for building a lithium processing plant in Tennessee as well as one in North Carolina so that it can meet a demand level of enough lithium for 1 million vehicles a year when the plants are up and running.
Phillips also noted that businesses face obstacles in opening factories in the United States.
“Projects get permitted [in Australia] in under a year,” he said. “Here, it’s two, four, six, seven, eight years, which is a problem, especially in a business that’s booming so fast.”
Production of batteries isn’t the only thing causing trouble for electric vehicles.
According to the Western Journal. Connecticut is pulling out its entire fleet of electric buses. The fleet was promoted as a step forward in green energy by a number of Democratic lawmakers in the state. On Saturday, those green energy plans literally went up in flames.
It turns out lithium batteries aren’t always the safest as you can see from this photo. Here’s a short demonstration of what happens when you overcharge a lithium polymer battery.
One CT transit bus caught fire after its lithium battery caught fire, destroying the entire vehicle. As a precaution, the rest of the fleet was taken out of service. At the time of the incident, there were no occupants on the bus.
In its place, diesel-powered buses are once again rumbling through Connecticut.
Ironically, one day prior to the Saturday fire, state officials met in New Haven, Connecticut, to promote the Clean Air Act that would limit diesel vehicles and increase electric cars.
Electric vehicles and green energy production have consistently failed to outperform fossil fuels. Nevertheless, Democrats are pushing for the adoption of such energies at every level of government. Unfortunately for them, the shortage of lithium is going to throw a wrench in their plans and make it difficult to reach their goals. This is probably good for the rest of us who don’t want to go up in flames.
