And to make a lithium-ion battery, you need lithium ions.

For a battery that you want to pick up and move around like you want to put in an electric vehicle, lithium-ion batteries are by far the winning technology and will remain there for a long time. Goldman: So there’s a whole suite of different metals that we need, and they each play different roles in the renewable energy system. What metals do we need for electric vehicle batteries and how much do we need of them?

Strickland: So let’s first talk about what minerals and metals we’re discussing here. Josh Goldman: It’s a pleasure to be here, Eliza. Josh, thanks so much for joining me on Fixing the Future. He’s the co-founder and president of KoBold Metals, an AI-powered mineral exploration company working to discover the materials for electric vehicle batteries. For this trend to continue, though, mining companies need to find a lot more of the metals used to build electric cars and their batteries.

In 2022, more than 10 million electric cars were sold around the world, up 55 percent over sales in 2021. Before we start, I want to tell you that you can get the latest coverage from some of Spectrum’s most important beats, including AI, climate change, and robotics, by signing up for one of our free newsletters. Eliza Strickland: Hi, I’m Eliza Strickland for IEEE Spectrum‘s Fixing the Future podcast.

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