The race to produce lithium

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Lithium is one of the hot commodities of the 21st century: needed for electric vehicles, semiconductors needed for AI, and grid-scale batteries. While the U.S. was once a pioneer in lithium production, it's fallen off — with others, including China, taking the reins. On our third and final episode of our grid battery series, we look at the race to produce the key ingredient in most of these batteries.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:11.2	This century, lithium is a hot commodity.
0:15.0	That's thanks to the lithium ion battery used in phones, electric vehicles, and grid-scale batteries.
0:21.6	More than 90% of the batteries in North American electricity grids, a lithium ion.
0:27.0	And the reason lithium is so prized for batteries is that it's the lightest metal there is.
0:32.2	Yeah, so not heavy metal, light metal.
0:35.5	Exactly.
0:36.2	It's less Pantera, more Bon Jovi.
0:43.6	Light, light metal. Yes, the Bon Jovi of the periodic table. But unlike
0:49.1	Bon Jovi, it is not all American. Lithium mining happens across
0:53.2	the globe, but when it comes to processing,
0:56.2	an estimated two-thirds is processed by Chinese companies. China realized that whoever controls
1:01.7	the production of lithium and other critical minerals will control the 21st century economy,
1:06.4	the way that control of oil defined the 20th century economy. That's Ernest Scheider.
1:11.2	He's the author of The War Below, Lithium Copper,
1:14.6	and the global battle to power our lives.
1:17.7	He says the U.S. was once a lithium pioneer.
1:21.0	Now it's trying to play catch-up.
1:24.0	This is the indicator from Planet Money.
1:26.2	I'm Darren Woods.
1:27.5	And I'm Adrian Ma.
1:28.9	Today on the show, we conclude our three-part series on grid-scale batteries
	...

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