With the talk of Peak Oil being at our front door, if not already in the sitting room, there can be no denying the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels for transport. But the uptake of alternative fuel vehicles has been slow, with the overriding limiting factor in weaning an automotive culture from non-renewable energy sources being one of alternatives in that there really aren't (m)any.

When companies like Toyota started to unveil hybrids to general public in the mids 90s, many consumers saw this as an answer in their quest to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. But for others the fact that hybrids carried a premium price tag and really did not have very impressive highway fuel economy meant that they were not a viable alternative to green motoring.

But with the advent of vehicles such as the Tesla and now the much heralded Mini E, the once forgotten Electric Vehicle seems on the verge on main stream motoring. Finally with the evolutionary steps in battery technology, EVs were being produced which had decent performance, a usable range and were something that was not only suitable for everyday motoring but looked good too. And as long as we didn’t use non-renewable energy sources such as coal powered stations, those of us who thought ourselves wise believed that we had the answer, if not for the long term then at least for the foreseeable future, in choosing EVs which were powered by sustainable energy.

However now that mass production of EVs is beginning to draw near I found myself doing a bit more research into seeing whether this could really be a viable alternative for the odd times when I found myself needing to drive. What I was interested in was a Dust to Dust cycle for an EV from conception through to disposal. But with very little information available I thought I would start but reading up on battery technology; and here-in lays the problem.

Current battery technology is based on the use of Lithium - a product in high demand not just for EVs but to power our myriad of electronic devices from digital cameras, to mobile phones to laptop computers. One of the first things I wondered was where does Lithium come from and what are the steps it takes to become a power source for EVs?

Lithium is a naturally occurring element with the symbol Li which due to it highly reactive nature can only be found on Earth in the form of compounds. It is said that Lithium was one of the few elements synthesized in the Big Bang.

While trace amounts of lithium can be found in the oceans and even some living organisms, there are only a few locales where Lithium can actually be extracted. These include deposits in the US, Finland, China and the DR of Congo; but these are relatively small deposits and some 70% of lithium deposits can be traced to what is known as “The Lithium Triangle.” A tiny area on the borders of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina bounded by the Three Salars – Salar de Atacama, the Salar de Uyuni and the Salar de Hombre Muerto.

What this means is that like oil, lithium production has a cap and with the growing demand for electronic goods it is estimated that realistic lithium carbonate production will only be able to produce a small fraction of the demand suitable for use in EVs. Demand for batteries is the fast growing resource request for lithium and we still have not seen a widespread roll out of EVs. But what if we do see a marked growth in EVs? Earlier this year computer manufacturers announced a marked decrease in laptop sales due primarily to the shortage of available lithium supplies for battery production. Current market conditions suggest a shortfall of in supply of some 30% while demand is expected to grow at 25% per annum with Mitsubishi expecting demand to outstrip supply in less than 10 years.

Aside from scarcity, what compounds the problem, is that Lithium is only found in significant quantities in the Andes and Tibet; two remote and fragile environments which would take a major mining operation resulting in irreversible and widespread damage to extract even a small percentage of the required lithium production. Extraction of lithium within “The Lithium Triangle” is said to require some two-thirds of the area’s drinking water and Sulphur Dioxide is a major by-product of production.

So before we hail the EV as the saviour to our reliance on fossil fuels, we need to ask ourselves is lithium ion propulsion really compatible with the notion of the “Green Car” and are we merely digging one hole to get out of another?

True there are other battery technologies out there that are arguable better and more environmentally friendly than lithium but currently they don't have the traction that lithium does. So while I know it’s not the best of answers, for the time being I think I’ll stick to running Vegetable Oil for now.