Isn’t lithium one of those minerals that’s found all over the place, and so where it’s mined ends up being governed by where the labor is cheapest?
My understanding is that they knew there was lithium there before, but that they didn’t realize what a huge amount it was.
Lithium is pretty prevalent, but as best I can tell it’s mostly mined in areas where it can be easily scraped off the surface from dry(ish) lake beds. The Salton Sea deposit requires pumping water underground to extract the brines, and then extracting the minerals from that.
It’s undoubtedly a higher capital expenditure than the simpler methods. Whether the costs are higher depends on the details. But I doubt that labor costs are a huge factor; it’s more of whether the required industrial equipment can pay for itself over time.
But it doesn’t change anything in the short term, where the short term is probably a decade or more. They’re still not extracting the lithium yet.
On the other hand:
Lithium “Shortage” Bubble Implodes (Again), Price Collapsed 77% in a Year, as Demand and Production Both Surged
Lithium prices are down in part because we overestimated demand for EVs and built too many batteies, creating a glut. Proposed battery factory plans are being scaled back.
As EV mandates and renewable energy buildouts look more likely to be pushed back or abandoned, the future demand for lithium is perceived to be lower than forecast.
Bolding mine
Ford is losing massive amounts of money on EVs: expecting to lose $5 billion to $5.5 billion this year on them:
Ford saw a $1.1 billion loss in its EV business, dragging Q2 profit well below Wall Street forecast
Amazing that Tesla is still the only profitable EV maker, except possibly some of the Chinese companies. I don’t understand why everyone else is so bad at manufacturing.
I do think that Ford might look worse than they are. Ford splits their earnings into three divisions: Ford Blue, Model e, and Pro. They can probably shift expenses around to some extent since they’re shared. If the Model e division is going to be unprofitable anyway, why not make the other two divisions look better in comparison by shifting expenses to the bad one? It’s a disaster no matter what. But at least investors can say that the F-150s are still doing fine.