California’s Lithium Valley could power electric vehicle industry | 60 Minutes

As the U.S. auto industry goes green, companies are developing lithium extraction for batteries in California’s Imperial Valley. Bill Whitaker reports.

#electriccar #electricvehicle #battery

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[jaredspencer]

I appreciate the Audubon man's pragmatism. The reality is that most people can't focus on environmentalism until they're financial secure; worldwide, conservation is largely led by people who aren't fighting for survival. So balancing environmentalism with economic progress gets the best of both worlds.

[joeblack]

Lithium is not scarce. The challenge is to extract it cleanly. I was blown away by the company that is essentially putting the water back in the ground cleaner. That is par excellence. The Salton Sea, much like the dead sea, is also a prime body of water for floating solar. The waters are calm. And, then you have the dual benefits of the electricity produced as well as fractionally lower evaporation with every installation. A win-win. To top it off there's the geothermal potential. That region could become an energy hub like few others.

[mowcowbell]

I own a Stellantis product... a '23 Jeep Wrangler 4xe. The 17kWh battery pack provides enough range for me to work each day without using any gas. With 375hp and 470lb/ft of torque, it is a blast to drive.

[ronkirk]

Back in the day, we used to fish, swim and water ski at the Salton Sea, but now the salt has become so concentrated it is mostly dead and the salt pans around the shore quickly becoming an ecological disaster. Good to see it might be put to some good use. Li-ion batteries are the best technology now, but battery technology is still evolving and Sodium-ion batteries may quickly reduce the need for Li and Iron-air batteries may become the solution for grid scale energy storage.

[RiannaRichardsOfficial]

❤❤❤ Finally, there is a piece of positive news this week! Thank you!

[scpdatabase]

The Salton Sea is a great place to visit when doing a road trip in the area. Hopefully this kickstarts the economy there again so more people visit.

You can fly a drone over the sea for half it's battery and barely get anywhere. It's HUGE.

[confirmhandle]

Most commercial lithium extraction is from salt-flat brines through a process of evaporation and chemical recovery. Lithium is also recovered from lithium-bearing ores, such as spodumene, through a process that involves crushing, roasting and acid leaching.

[oo-jd-oo]

As long as we're reducing our dependence on China then I'm all for it

[MikeJava]

It's so refreshing to watch a news story that is not politically charged. It's sort of like "hey here is some progress we are making and the world is becoming a better place for it..." have a nice day.

[Ojames]

Everyone talking about batteries for EVs, they are not talking about the big market with grid energy storage and home energy storage. Being able to store all that excess energy being produce is a game changer

[baddoggie]

A minor correction: lithium is not a "dense" metal, but quite the opposite.

[jackrandom]

Come to Wyoming. We have lithium near Rock Springs.

[ocker]

Yes, here in Europe we found a massive supply of Lithium in France. Same benefits there.

[fireofenergy]

We need more info like this, from respected news sources, like 60 minutes, to continually inform the public about how cheap the solar battery infrastructure will be - as long as we mine and refine at the same scale as we do for gasoline, now.
Thanks!

[jasonschlegel]

60 Minutes - after all these years you are among my favorite sources.

[philborer]

I'm glad to see this area is finally in use. I learned about it 3 years ago. But they still aren't moving fast enough.

[JamesHerron-jt]

Look people lithium is even more rare by 50 times then petroleum and it is no more renewable than petroleum and you still have to burn petroleum to process the lithium

[w-is]

Government should give tax break to companies that offers full-time work from home. Then you don't need so many vehicles.

[JasonCarmichael]

Tesla, Lithium, Refinery, Texas <-- Search it.

This extraction is not refining. This is the mine, Tesla is building the refinery.

[TalonID]

This is the 2nd attempt at Lithium Extraction within the same 10 square miles. There are some real issues with pulling this off. I hope the teams get it right as the last were too arrogant to listen to those that could help them perfect the process. Hint, don't try to apply Heat Management Systems late in the design cycle, when you're low on development cash...