Lithium industry develops in California as electric vehicle demand grows | 60 Minutes - CBS News
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May 7, 2023 / 7:00 PM / CBS News
Lithium Valley could power EV battery boom California's Lithium Valley could power electric vehicle industry | 60 Minutes13:14
The auto industry is introducing fleets of electric vehicles that will be powered by lithium-ion batteries and while the U.S. has massive quantities of lithium locked underground, companies have been slow to invest in mining and extraction.
That's about to change. Lithium operations powered by clean energy are being developed in California, near the Salton Sea. Just like California's 1849 Gold Rush, companies are racing to strike it rich in a region some are now calling Lithium Valley.
Eric Spomer is president and CEO of EnergySource Minerals, a company focused on recovering lithium from the region's geothermal brine.
"When you hear estimates of how big this resource could be, it's usually measured on annual tons produced. And we're confident that this is in excess of 300,000 tons a year," said Spomer. "Right now, that's way more than half of the world supply of lithium."
EnergySource Minerals is steaming ahead with plans to build a lithium facility, which Spomer said could be ready for commercial use by 2025.
Typically, lithium is either extracted from rock mining operations, or recovered from evaporation ponds. The facility from EnergySource Minerals would be the cleanest, most efficient lithium process in the world, Spomer said.
Companies are working to extract lithium in California 60 Minutes
The process being developed by the Salton Sea makes use of the brine already being brought to the surface by geothermal electric plants. Six hundred degree brine rises to the surface from more than a mile beneath the earth. It produces steam, which drives turbines to generate electricity.
In the past, the mineral-rich brine was simply returned to the earth. Now EnergySource plans to break ground on a clean, billion-dollar facility in the next few months to extract lithium from the brine before reinjecting it underground.
Estimates of the amount of lithium in the region are staggering. Spomer told 60 Minutes that the region could recover enough of the metal to support 7.5 million electric vehicles a year, which is half of the total car and truck sales in the U.S.
EnergySource is leading the lithium charge by the Salton Sea, but the company is not alone. Warren Buffett's BHE Renewables runs 10 geothermal energy plants in the region. There's another on the drawing board by an Australian company, Controlled Thermal Resources. Both ventures are part of the lithium rush.
Down the road from EnergySource's site, Controlled Thermal Resources has been fine tuning its process at a test facility. CEO Rod Colwell said based on what they learn, the company plans to build a new plant for recovering lithium. They've been successful at extracting lithium at their test facility.
"We know it works," Colwell said.
The lithium extraction process costs about $4,000 per ton, and currently sells for six times more.
Rod Colwell and Bill Whitaker talk about the lithium extraction process 60 Minutes
But as companies seek to benefit from what California Gov. Gavin Newsom believes could make the area "the Saudi Arabia of lithium," others are asking: Will it work for everyone? The rich lithium resource lies beneath one of the poorest sections of California. The Salton Sea was created when the Colorado River flooded the basin in 1905, but for the past 50 years, the main source of water has been chemical-laden agricultural runoff. For decades, the sea has been evaporating and shrinking. A once-thriving tourist industry has been replaced by environmental decay, toxic dust and economic hardship. Unemployment in the region hovers around 16%.
The lithium industry could provide better jobs and be a force for good in the area, acknowledged environmentalist Frank Ruiz, the local program director for the Audubon Society and a commissioner on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Lithium Extraction in California. Industrialization in the area, he said, has to be reconciled with its wildlife and communities.
"We need to learn how to balance the tables," Ruiz said.
That balance will be important in the coming years as demand for electric vehicles continues.
"Over 50% of our lineup and retails sales will be from battery electric vehicles by the end of the decade," Mark Stewart, head of North American operations for carmaker Stellantis, told Bill Whitaker. Stellantis owns some of America's best-known brands, including Chrysler, Jeep and Ram trucks, and is investing $35 billion in an ambitious transformation to manufacture electric cars and trucks.
"We're reimagining our factories -- on our assembly plants," said Stewart. "They're already rolling our plug-in hybrids — as well as looking to two new battery joint ventures that are in full construction right now."
To that end, Stellantis has committed to purchase lithium from Controlled Thermals Resources for 10 years, even though the lithium will not be commercially available for years. General Motors has also committed to purchasing lithium from the Salton Sea region.
Prices for electric cars are coming down and are projected to be on par with gas vehicles within a few years, driven in part by the tax incentives in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The tax benefits have also been a catalyst for developing domestic lithium, said EnergySource's Spomer. There have been big investments along the lithium-ion battery supply chain, so that soon lithium won't need to sourced, processed, and refined overseas.
"It's a competitive advantage," said Spomer. "It's an opportunity that we can be a leader globally. And why not lead?"
- In:
- Electric Vehicle
- California
- Lithium-Ion Batteries
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I watched this on 60 Minutes last night.
The amount of lithium that they will be producing is unbelievable. Besides making the US the largest producer of lithium there will be additional cost saving by cutting down on the transportation cost currently associated with it.
Hopefully, it will resuscitate the Imperial Valley which needs jobs and investment.
If done right this is a win-win for the US.
Here is a link with more information on the project and Q&A with a huge investor an buyer of the lithium.
I'm all for mass production right here in the USA
They stated that they can produce enough lithium for 7.5 million cars per year.
Oh, hell yes do it right here in the US.
What about waste material these plants allegedly produce? I heard somewhere that it can be fairly toxic, or am I mistaken?
I know if lithium catches fire you can't put water on it to put it out
It is highly toxic - Exposure to Lithium causes loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, cause headache, muscle weakness, twitching, blurred vision, loss of coordination, tremors, confusion, seizures and coma. That said there are simple handling procedures like coating the metal in mineral oil, using gloves and tongs. Also it should be kept away from water and stored in a low humidity environment.
EDIT: It's not the raw lithium it's the processing and recycling processes that have had health ramifications in 3rd world areas. Of course no one concerns themselves with safety & oversite in those places either.
That is true and many of your appliances have lithium ion batteries, such as cell phones.
Those side effects sound like most of the pharmaceutical ads you see on tv.
It often seems as if there isn't much we use in the modern world that doesn't sound similar...
Lithium used to be a psychiatry medicine. I don't know if it still is.
Yes, it is. It is used extensively in treating bi-polar people.
I saw a car fire on the news the other day, I think it was a Prius. The firefighters tried to put it out with water and the damn thing exploded. You would think they would know that. Well, they probably would have if somebody had paid attention in 11th grade chemistry
My grandma was on it for a while. She wasn't bipolar but her brain chemistry was definitely whacked out
Those side effects sound like most of the pharmaceutical ads you see on tv.
The battery question could go in many directions. Lithium has technical advantages, but is problematic socially and ecologically. So there are lots of races being run.
Lithium recycling, new lithium sources, alternatives to lithium, ... "Breakthrough" headlines every week.
They are pumping in a lot of money on this bet, Bob.
It's going to be interesting.
Other than autos there is a high demand for lithium in a multitude of consumer producsts.
The biggest producer of lithium is Australia followed in a distant second by Chile.
Electricity storage is a fascinating field, from pumped hydro to melted salt...
Lots of pretty good YouTube channels.
Portugal stopped mining because of the environmental damage.
Could hydrogen cell batteries be a better alternative perhaps?
Here is a good article on it.
https://www.petro-online.com/news/measurement-and-testing/14/breaking-news/lithium-ion-batteries-vs-hydrogen-fuel-cells-which-is-better/58898#:~:text=In%20terms%20of%20energy%20storage,high%2Dload%20lithium%20ion%20batteries.
There are lots of technologies already operational, with more becoming available every day. The sources in whom I have confidence all say the same thing: for the foreseeable future, there won't be one battery to rule them all. We will use different tech for different use-cases.
The Salton Sea is a fascinating area. Many of the towns there are ghost towns now. This will be a huge boost to the economy there.
Isn’t it going to refill?
It could. A few million years ago it was connected to the Gulf of California but was cut off by the Colorado River delta.
I doubt it Bob, the only water it gets now is run off from the farms which has made it very toxic.
I remember going there in the 1960s and early 70s before he turned to be uninhabitable.
It was a lot of fun than.
I hate to be a spoil-sport, but...
Are EV sales declining? Electrifying the car market may be getting harder. Here's why
USA Today - LINK ->
I have heard that people are being advised to NOT park their EV in a garage.
Electric Vehicle Battery Fires Are A Serious Problem
CARBUZZ LINK ->
There have been a number of electric battery fires on motorbikes and some areas have banned them.
On the car side, the sales keep growing. And I agree it is a problem that has to be cured.
Here's a channel that often gives us battery tech updates. Today's video is about tech that doesn't use lithium at all:
The human spirit drives us to find solutions to problems. The problem in question is energy storage (for obvious reasons). This video illustrates that brilliant researchers and engineers will continue to improve the cost, duration and applicability of battery technologies.
This should be a backdrop consideration when speculating on the viability of solar, wind and other weather dependent energy sources. Better battery technology is the key.
Money, too.
...or fame, or even the pursuit of power.
Where does this article prove the claim in it's title: "as electric vehicle demand grows??????"
Since you asked, for your reading pleasure:
Sales of electric cars in the EU broke records in 2022. Which country in Europe is leading the way?
I didn't ask for other articles or articles regarding Europe.
I clearly asked where the article that you posted backed up it's claim about the nation's demand for electric cars.
The article I posted assumed that the reader understood the growth of the EV market, which has been in numerous articles and reports.
The links that I gave you showed it in the major EV markets in the world. If that isn't enough factual information for you there is nothing I nor anyone else can to do help you understand.
Here's one for you...
I hope that those links help you out, Vic.
No, you have failed again.
Only in your [removed] view, Vic.
Please carry on, if nothing else you're entertaining in your inability to accept facts.