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Old 10-15-2019, 11:01 AM   #1567
Street Pharmacist
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Couple more points I want to touch on. I didn't quote anyone because I see these points in various parts so this is just a bunch of my $0.02

-People decry Cobalt mining and lithium mining, but oil drilling has just as bad of environmental/human rights issues. It's a red herring. Cobalt is essential for most batteries, but due to price fluctuations, the race is on to find batteries without Cobalt. It will happen soon.

-battery recycling will be a difficult nut to crack, but there are some things worth considering. First, after 30% capacity loss it will no longer be good for vehicles, but there's lots of life left as a backup grid power source. Renault is already doing this with old Zoe batteries and it's working very well. I do agree that somehow there needs to be a recycling plan though

-people aren't thinking in exponential growth, only linearly. Photovoltaic growth is exponential rising at 30% year over year. Unless that stops, that's a 15-20x growth after 10 years. It's over 2% now. Wind is showing a similar path. Same goes for ev adoption. Tesla sold 400,000 cars this year. They sold 40,000 just 4 years ago. Disruption doesn't follow linear lines, and it's mostly market demand is driving it, not environmentalism. Per kWh, it's simply cheaper in many parts of the world to build PV or wind. That is only going to accelerate as coal, gas, and oil can't really get much cheaper. Solar and wind continue to get cheaper
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