EcoWatch
Facebook 573k Twitter 238k Instagram 37k Subscribe Subscribe
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Renewables
  • Culture
  • Science
  • Go Solar Today
      • Top Companies By State
        • California Solar Companies
        • Texas Solar Companies
        • New York Solar Companies
        • Florida Solar Companies
        • See All States
      • Top Incentives By State
        • California Solar Incentives
        • Texas Solar Incentives
        • New York Solar Incentives
        • Florida Solar Incentives
        • See All States
      • Solar Panel Costs By State
        • Solar Panel Costs in California
        • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
        • Solar Panel Costs in New York
        • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
        • See All States
      • Value of Solar by State
        • Is Solar Worth It In California?
        • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
        • Is Solar Worth It New York?
        • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
        • See All States
      • Company Reviews
        • Tesla Solar Review
        • Sunrun Solar Review
        • SunPower Solar Review
        • Vivint Solar Review
        • See All Companies
      • Common Solar Questions
        • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
        • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
        • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
        • Can You Finance Solar?
        • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
        • Payback On Solar Panels?
      • Solar Resources
        • Interactive Solar Calculator
        • Federal Solar Tax Credit 2023
        • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
        • Tesla Solar Roof Review
        • Cheapest Solar Panels
      • Companies Compared
        • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
        • SunRun vs SunPower
        • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
        • SunPower vs ADT Solar
EcoWatch
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Renewables
  • Culture
  • Science
  • Go Solar Today
    • Go Solar Today
    • Top Companies By State
      • California Solar Companies
      • Texas Solar Companies
      • New York Solar Companies
      • Florida Solar Companies
      • See All States
    • Top Incentives By State
      • California Solar Incentives
      • Texas Solar Incentives
      • New York Solar Incentives
      • Florida Solar Incentives
      • See All States
    • Solar Panel Costs By State
      • Solar Panel Costs in California
      • Solar Panel Costs in Texas
      • Solar Panel Costs in New York
      • Solar Panel Costs in Florida
      • See All States
    • Value of Solar by State
      • Is Solar Worth It In California?
      • Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
      • Is Solar Worth It New York?
      • Is Solar Worth It In Florida?
      • See All States
    • Company Reviews
      • Tesla Solar Review
      • Sunrun Solar Review
      • SunPower Solar Review
      • Vivint Solar Review
      • See All Companies
    • Common Solar Questions
      • Can You Get Free Solar Panels?
      • Does Solar Increase Home Value?
      • What’re The Best Solar Batteries?
      • Can You Finance Solar?
      • Where To Buy Solar Panels?
      • Payback On Solar Panels?
    • Solar Resources
      • Interactive Solar Calculator
      • Federal Solar Tax Credit 2023
      • Best Solar Panels For Most Homes
      • Tesla Solar Roof Review
      • Cheapest Solar Panels
    • Companies Compared
      • SunPower vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs Tesla Solar
      • SunRun vs SunPower
      • SunPower vs Momentum Solar
      • SunPower vs ADT Solar

The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 573k Twitter 238k Instagram 37k
    EcoWatch
    • About EcoWatch
    • Contact EcoWatch
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Learn About Solar Energy
    Facebook 573k Twitter 238k Instagram 37k
    Home Renewable Energy

    Designing a U.S. Transit System With Smaller, Fewer Cars Could Cut Lithium Demand and Mining Harms of EV Transition

    By: Olivia Rosane
    Updated: January 24, 2023
    Edited by Chris McDermott
    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon
    A subway train in Queens with Manhattan skyline, New York City
    Encouraging public transit use and denser cities could reduce lithium demand as the U.S. decarbonizes its transit sector. Marco Bottigelli / Moment / Getty Images
    Why you can trust us

    Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

    Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

    One of the less sustainable aspects of the drive to transition from gas to electric vehicles (EVs) is that building them requires metals and minerals that must be mined from the Earth, an activity that raises both ecological and environmental justice concerns. 

    In fact, a new report from the Climate and Community Project and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), found that, if current trends for EV demand hold through 2050, the U.S. alone will require three times the amount of lithium that is now available on the market globally. However, replacing every gas-powered car with an EV isn’t the only way to decarbonize transit. Alternative steps including designing a less car-intensive transportation system, reducing the size of EV batteries and encouraging lithium recycling could reduce lithium demand by up to 92 percent from the worst-case scenario, according to The Guardian. 

    More From EcoWatch
    • What Is a Lithium Solar Battery?
    • The Most Efficient Solar Panels
    • How to Lower Your Energy Bill

    “The energy transition is a critical juncture: will we electrify the status quo, or take the opportunity for ambitious policies that simultaneously slash emissions, reduce pressure on ecosystems, and improve community wellbeing?” study lead author  Thea Riofrancos, who is a member of the Climate and Community Project and an associate professor of political science at Providence College, said in a statement shared by the Climate and Community Project and UC Davis. “Our report shows that despite alarming headlines, there is no zero-sum tradeoff between zero emissions transportation and protecting biodiversity and Indigenous rights. Reducing car dependency means reducing mining while improving mobility for all.”

    How much lithium is needed to electrify the car-dependent status quo vs transforming the transportation system to increase mass transit, walking & cycling? Our new @cpluscp report finds dramatic differences. We can achieve more mobility with less mining 1/ https://t.co/hzgDJ6gm1o pic.twitter.com/FqjLwDJzRY

    — Thea Riofrancos (@triofrancos) January 24, 2023

    Transportation is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by economic sector, which means that finding a way to cut those emissions is essential for the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis. 

    So far, most U.S. policy has focused on replacing gas cars with EVs, the new report pointed out. States including California have passed laws banning the sale of new gas cars by 2035, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) offers tax credits of up to $7,500 for purchasing an EV. Because of these and other measures, it is expected that more than half of the cars bought in the U.S. by 2030 will be EVs.

    However, the EV transition has a major weakness: lithium. Lithium is a highly reactive metal that is essential for the rechargeable batteries used in everything from cell phones to EVs because it is both lightweight and extremely conductive. In fact, two-thirds of lithium demand comes from these batteries, and EVs are already the greatest share of the battery demand because of their size. 

    Increasing the demand for EV batteries means more mining, which causes environmental harm and often happens despite the opposition of local or Indigenous communities. Mining in general is the sector most associated with violence between land defenders and corporate interests, and there’s no indication that lithium mining would be an exception in this regard. For example, conflict is already brewing around a lithium mine approved by the Trump administration in Nevada’s Thacker Pass. A coalition of farmers, environmental groups and Indigenous people are suing to stop the project that would generate 354 million cubic yards of waste; threaten habitat for species like sage grouse, golden eagles, Lahontan cutthroat trout and pronghorn antelopes; and disturb an area called Peehee Mu’huh that members of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe consider culturally and spiritually important. 

    “It is our duty to protect sacred land. We all need to come to the reality that we only have one earth and it must be protected,” a member of People of Red Mountain — a group of tribal members that opposes the mine — said in a statement shared by the report authors. “Walk more, buy used, and respect the land. Destroying Peehee Mu’huh is cultural genocide.”

    The report — Achieving Zero Emissions With More Mobility and Less Mining — was designed to see if there was a way to decarbonize U.S. transit without exacerbating the harms caused by lithium mining. To this end, its authors calculated the lithium demand of four potential roadmaps to emissions-free transit: simply switching the current gas vehicle fleet to an EV fleet with no further changes and three increasingly ambitious scenarios for transforming U.S. cities and suburbs to increase density and encourage greater public transportation. Further, the researchers considered the impact of maintaining the current status quo for medium EV battery sizes, shrinking to small EV battery sizes or increasing to large EV battery sizes. Moving from the worst case scenario for both vehicle ownership and battery size to the best could reduce lithium demand by as much as 92 percent, as The Guardian calculated. Without changes to battery size, increasing transit options could reduce demand by 18 to 66 percent while leaving the transit status quo in place but reducing battery size could lead to a 42 percent decline in demand. 

    “Our research shows three key strategies that can reduce U.S. lithium demand by 90% in the next 3 decades relative to the most lithium-intensive scenario: decreasing car dependency, right-sizing EV batteries, and creating a robust recycling system,” UC Davis professor of civil and environmental engineering and report author Alissa Kendall said in a statement. 

    While the report acknowledges the difficulties of weaning the U.S. off of its culture of sprawl and big cars, it argues that there are many benefits to such a change, including safer, less polluted cities; reduced geopolitical tensions over lithium deposits; and a greater chance of reaching the 1.5 temperature goal.

    “Decarbonizing personal mobility is a challenge, but also an opportunity to work towards a transportation system that works better both for commuters in the U.S. and communities around the world,” report author and Climate and Community Project member Kira McDonald said in a statement. “Faced with the extreme urgency of decarbonization — but also the host of health, safety, quality of life, and other social and economic costs of car dependency — many cities and countries have pursued strategies that have not only electrified their transportation systems, but also shifted trips from private cars and SUVs to public and active transit. Now, the modeling in our report finds that such changes can also dramatically reduce the global ecological footprint of the energy transition in this sector.”

    Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

      By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

      Olivia Rosane

      Olivia Rosane is a freelance writer and reporter with a decade’s worth of experience. She has been contributing to EcoWatch daily since 2018 and has also covered environmental themes for Treehugger, The Trouble, YES! Magazine and Real Life. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and a master’s in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London.
      Facebook icon Twitter icon Pinterest icon Email icon

      Read More

      Global Freshwater Demand Will Exceed Supply 40% by 2030, Experts Warn
      Samuel Taylor Coleridge first published the poem “The Rime of
      By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
      Train Derails, Leaks an Estimated 5,000 Gallons of Fuel on Reservation in Washington
      Another train has derailed, this time on the Swinomish Reservation
      By Paige Bennett
      Forest Recovery Can Offset Some Tropical Deforestation Emissions, But Not All
      As deforestation continues in vulnerable and vital tropical rainforests, the
      By Olivia Rosane

      Subscribe to get exclusive updates in our daily newsletter!

        By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from EcoWatch Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

        Latest Articles

        • Arctic Sea Ice Maximum Extent Is Fifth Lowest on Record
          by Olivia Rosane
          March 17, 2023
        • Global Freshwater Demand Will Exceed Supply 40% by 2030, Experts Warn
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          March 17, 2023
        • Train Derails, Leaks an Estimated 5,000 Gallons of Fuel on Reservation in Washington
          by Paige Bennett
          March 17, 2023
        • Forest Recovery Can Offset Some Tropical Deforestation Emissions, But Not All
          by Olivia Rosane
          March 17, 2023
        • Two Aging UK Coal Plants to Shutter in March Despite Government Requests to Remain on Standby
          by Olivia Rosane
          March 17, 2023
        • Meet Europe’s Latest National Park, A Wild River in the Heart of Albania
          by Olivia Rosane
          March 17, 2023
        • Volkswagen Announces Plans for a More Affordable Electric Car
          by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
          March 16, 2023
        • Property Values of Homes Near Solar Farms Appraised in New Study
          by Paige Bennett
          March 16, 2023
        EcoWatch

        The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

          • Climate Climate
          • Animals Animals
          • Health + Wellness Health + Wellness
          • Insights + Opinion Insights + Opinion
          • Adventure Adventure
          • Oceans Oceans
          • Business Business
          • Solar Solar
          • About EcoWatch
          • Contact EcoWatch
          • EcoWatch Reviews
          • Terms of Use
          • Privacy Policy
          • Learn About Solar Energy
          • Learn About Deregulated Energy
          • EcoWatch UK
          Follow Us
          Facebook 573k
          Twitter 238k
          Instagram 37k
          Subscribe Subscribe

          Experts for a healthier planet and life.

          Mentioned by:
          Learn more