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cogman10yesterday at 7:57 PM1 replyview on HN

In fact, the limiting element for Li chemistries is generally the Nickel. Pretty much everything else that goes into these chemistries is highly available. Even something like Cobalt which is touted as unavailable is only that way because the industrial uses of cobalt is basically only li batteries. It's mined by hand not because that's the best way to get it, but because that's the cheapest way to get the small amount that's needed for batteries.

Sodium iron phosphate batteries, if Li prices don't continue to fall, will be some of the cheapest batteries out there. If they can be made solid state then you are looking at batteries that will dominate things like grid and home power storage.


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to11mtmyesterday at 8:30 PM

> Even something like Cobalt which is touted as unavailable is only that way because the industrial uses of cobalt is basically only li batteries.

AFAIR Cobalt is also kinda toxic which is a concern.

But as far as that and

> In fact, the limiting element for Li chemistries is generally the Nickel

Isn't that part of why LiFePO was supposed to take off tho? Sure the energy density is a bit lower but theoretically they are cheaper to produce per kWh and don't have any of the toxicity/rarity issues of other lithium designs...

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