Let's talk lithium and lithium batteries.
As electric cars get mandated and gasoline cars banned (in the US, California has already passed a bill to ban sale of gasoline cars by 2030), we need to talk about lithium, the main component in lithium ion batteries.
Lithium ion batteries come in various “formats”. The 18650 battery, used in huge amounts in the older Tesla cars, are 18mm wide, and 65.0mm high, give or take 0.2mm. Other types are “flat pack” which are the flat batteries used a lot in cell phones, tablets and other devices. Laptops used to use a bunch of 18650 cells but they are moving to flat packs now.
Who has the lithium?
Afghanistan has a significant amount of lithium. Thus Biden wanted to make friends with them.
The World's Top Lithium Producers. https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2020/12/13/the-worlds-top-lithium-producers/?sh=23eaf4175bc6
The "BP Statistical Review of World Energy" tracks lithium production and reserve numbers. https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy.html The top lithium producing countries are: Australia, Chile, China, Argentina, Zimbabwe. Known lithium reserves should last 200 years.
Who makes the most lithium batteries?
Major lithium battery makers. By market share, top companies first: CATL (China), LG energy (Korea), BYD (China), Panasonic (Japan), SK On (Korea), CALB (China), Samsung SDI (Korea). https://www.statista.com/statistics/235323/lithium-batteries-top-manufacturers/
Top 10 lithium-ion battery manufacturers in 2022. https://batterystory.com/top-10-lithium-ion-battery-manufacturers/ This guy claims Tesla was #1 maker of Lion batteries in 2022. See also https://finance.yahoo.com/news/12-biggest-battery-manufacturers-world-153020817.html
Elon Musk and Tesla break ground on massive Texas lithium refinery, making it the largest North American processor of the material. Albemarle plans to build a lithium processing facility in South Carolina that will refine 100,000 tonnes of the metal each year, with construction slated to begin next year and the facility coming online sometime later this decade. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-plans-produce-lithium-1-mln-vehicles-texas-refinery-elon-musk-2023-05-08/
Other related news.
Tiny biobattery with 100-year shelf life runs on bacteria. But for how long does it run? How many milliamp hours does it have? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230418142519.htm
A shortage of lithium batteries means there are many fake batteries out there, especially 18650 batteries. Many batteries from China are poor quality and may not last more than 10 recharges. There are many outright fakes of 18650 batteries making outrageous claims, like a 9800mah capacity. Typical max capacity of common 18650 batteries is about 4000mah. Common places for fake 18650 batteries are Aliexpress and Ebay, even Amazon has some. On Wish you can bet your money most batteries will be fake.
How to tell if a lithium battery is fake. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=how+to+tell+if+a+lithium+battery+is+fake&ia=web It says to "always avoid" batteries that are: not properly packaged; have misprinted or misspelled labels; have labels that peel off; or do not have official manufacturer batch numbers. The more capacity a battery has the more it weighs. https://www.instructables.com/How-to-know-a-fake-18650-battery/