Our automobile companies are racing fast and furious to develop the next generation of electric cars. From the Chevy Volt, the Ford Fusion to the Tesler Roadster, they are all relying on lithium ion batteries to obtain the desired clean energy and high miles per gallon. However, does this mean that we are on the road to trading the energy dependence on the Middle East for oil for an energy dependency for lithium? Bolivia controls almost 50% of the world’s lithium, the mineral needed for the batteries being used to power the electric vehicles under development. Bolivia has been described as the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” It is estimated that Bolivia has 5.43 million tons of lithium, Chile has 3 million tons, China has 1.1 million tons and the US has only 410,000 tons.
And is Bolivia a country we can rely on to support our future energy needs? Recent history should give us grave concerns. In September 2008, Bolivian President Morales expelled US Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg, based on claims that Goldberg and the US encouraged the division of Bolivia and supported opposition groups to Morale’s government. Morales reportedly justified his expulsion order by declaring that it was the indigenous peoples’ rejection of “the American empire.” Morales’s chief ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, told the US ambassador to his country to go, and Honduran President Manuel Zelay refused to accept the credentials of a new US ambassador. In retaliation, the US expelled the Bolivian and Venezuelan ambassadors to the US.
There are important questions that we should be asking now and not 15 to 20 years from now. By relying on lithium batteries, are we simply exchanging one energy dependency for another? In 15 or 20 years, will we be grumbling about the auto companies’ lack of vision because they staked their future and our country’s future on a resource primarily available in a politically unstable region (a little déjà vu)? Are for-profit companies capable of evaluating national security needs when their primary job is to produce shareholder profits? While private enterprise may be the best sector to make decisions to optimize economic outcomes, is private enterprise capable of making the best decisions to optimize socio-economic outcomes? If not, what role should government or nonprofits, if any, take in evaluating which technology best serves our socio-economic needs? And is government thinking ahead? The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act grants loans to private companies to manufacture advanced vehicle batteries including lithium ion batteries. Does this law indicate that Congress and the President do not think Bolivia’s control of most of the world’s lithium is significant?
