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Ancient_Persimmon t1_j8p9t5q wrote

Your math for annual consumption is wrong, since about 12% of cars sold were EVs in the EU last year, not 2%. If things stayed as is, which they won't, Co production would have to rise by about 5x, not 50.

Less than 10% of Co being mined is via artisanal mining and that number is dropping as demand rises and it becomes worthwhile for professional mining.

At the same time, Co is being eliminated from Nickel based battery chemistries and already a substantial proportion of lithium packs are LFP, which don't use Cobalt.

Recycling pack materials is a nascent industry for Li-ion batteries and is also accelerating quickly with considerable funding behind it.

>I'm sorry, no established industry in the history of anything has grown that fast.

Pretty much every established industry grows at this rate, this is how people have rather accurately predicted the sales numbers of EVs.

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