How Many Charging Stations Would We Need to Totally Replace Gas Stations?
How Many Charging Stations Would We Need to Totally Replace Gas Stations?
The United States could fully transition to electric vehicles in about 20 years. When that happens, we’re going to need a lot of chargers.
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It remains to come up with an environmentally friendly analog for lithium-ion batteries in electric cars, but this is probably for the distant future
There's sodium batteries that are picking up right now
They look pretty damn promising from a safety and environmently friendly standpoint
It will be a while for sodium batteries to solve this problem. They have low energy density, both by weight and volume. I expect it to change enough to be a better choice relatively soon. In the meantime, lithium recycling is picking up, which will reduce the burden of the increased demand for lithium.
They're pretty comparable currently to LiFePO4 batteries currently in terms of energy density. And they're seeing use in electric vehicles in China. I'd say they're popping off for sure.
And just last month the first sodium battery manufacturing plant opened in the US.
Natron Energy, the American sodium battery manufacturer, is only talking about making EV fast chargers, not actual EV batteries. I'm guessing the big reason is energy density. I'm not sure what the range of the Chinese EVs are, but I suspect it won't be enough to attract North American consumers at this time, although I expect that will change. Also, in other locations where the population density is higher, lower range probably isn't as big of a factor.