Ali wrote:You mistake me for an environmentalist, which couldn't be further from the truth, but I see absolutely no point in idiotic hybrid bullsh1t cars when there is no evidence that they're any better for the environment, and a hell of a lot of evidence to suggest they are, in fact, significantly worse.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... tml?cat=27
http://www.journalstar.com/business/art ... 244b1.html
http://www.newcarpark.com/blog/?p=68
And if lithium is merely mined as an additional mineral, why are there specific lithium mines springing up across South America, specifically in the Atacama in Chile & Salar De Uyuni in Bolivia, as well as dozens across Zimbabwe, pouring money into Mugabe's foul regime? These mine nothing but lithium, and the increased requirement for lithium that hybrids will result in will only make the situation worse, as well as the exploitation of poorly regulated third world mining and Chinese refinement plants all the more dangerous. But hey, don't let that stop all the hybrid fans from polishing their halos in the Western world, safely ensconsed in their own smugness and underpowered, overcomplicated automotive white elephant. They are pointless, media centric, showroom bullsh1t cars with no future and certainly not the next step in an oil, and let's face the real facts, Middle East free, energy rich future.
lithium is not solely mined as a bi-product but often is, and clearly as the demand for the metal increases then the price of the material will rise, consequently sites that were once uneconomic due to the grade or mineralogical factors now become an economic prospect. there are mines springing up everyday for all sorts of minerals using the exact same methods, some company's conduct there practices responsibly generally the larger well established ones which have reputations to uphold (though not in all cases), and it is generally the junior mining companies that take risks and do not check every base. also the manner in which the companies conduct their practices is dictated by the laws of the countries in which they operate. Countries with lax laws tend to be underdeveloped countries who are keen to attract large operations, so they can tax/bribe the hell out of them and earn some needed cash and companies that enter in to these environments tend to be the smaller companies who then do not need to conduct practices by the book. but this is the case for every metal that is produced, and has been for decades. but no one seems to pick upon this in a major way, it is merely the irony of the situation with lithium and nickel that gets every one on their high horse. additionally this point is also relevant for oil and gas with which we all currently use. so what ever fuel we use we will come up against this situation in terms of funding "foul regimes". so if mining is to be blamed and stopped in this case then it should be stopped in every case, then where will we be. you'll have no type r thats for sure.
on the point of hybribs in the big picture being just or less economical, i agree, for the moment. but that is down to the technology behind the batteries and their current manufacture process and is not down to mining companies. if it costs a set amount to extract from the ground then it is the task of the designers of the power cells to make them cheap, just like any other product that requires certain materials. if they cannot it will not be a success. The fact that more lithium mines are in development suggests that they can or are near to. every new product starts out expensive at first and are made using methods that are far from sreamlined, take todays top end computers, they can cost upwards of 2 grand, but give it 3 years and you can pick up the equvelent for 1/3 of that. neccesity is the mother of invention and mass production makes it cheap.
also yes these vheicles are targeted at people who are concious of how they are percived and the marketing campaigns paint a rather blue sky image of the situation, but if this is the vhecile to drive clean transprt forward so that a truely green vheicle is realised then so be it. we could just sit here doing nothing and carry on pumping out CO2 into the atmosphere from the fear that to reach the goal we seek some dirty work needs doing.
you can't buy a Mugen-tuned engine or ECU/map for the road, but if you could...