Lithium-ion/challenge 1
Challenge: Lithium-ion batteries without so much cobalt.
Reason:
- Global cobalt reserves severely limit the scalability of electric vehicles that run on typical lithium-ion tech.
- Cobalt mining involves a disproportionately large amount of child labor.
Tradeoffs to overcome:
- Cobalt is currently needed for battery stability[ELABORATION needed] and performance[ELABORATION needed]
Maximum viable cobalt level:
- Calculation will be added here soon.
Alternatives to avoid:
- Other rare metals.
- Calculation will be added here soon: How to estimate a reasonable limit of any element, based on its global reserves/resources.