All the battery metals we need to power a billion electric vehicles could be lying on the floor of the Pacific Ocean — but collecting them and turning them into EV batteries is a major challenge.
Why it matters: It’s going to take a lot of batteries to replace the world’s gasoline-powered cars with zero-emission EVs. And that will require digging more lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese out of the earth.
- Experts worry that mining’s environmental threats could outweigh the benefits of increased renewable energy production.
What’s happening: The Metals Company of Vancouver claims it has identified a less damaging way to mine battery metals from ancient rocks resting on the seafloor.
