Could seawater save a battery?

Lithium's scarcity has raised concerns that future shortages could cause battery prices to skyrocket and stymie the growth of electric vehicles and other lithium-dependent technologies such as Tesla Powerwalls, stationary batteries often used to store rooftop solar power. Seawater could come to the rescue.

Is a lithium battery plant better than a pumped battery plant?

For that purpose—a few hundred megawatts of extra power for a few hours—a lithium battery plant is much cheaper, easier, and quicker to build than a pumped storage plant, says NREL senior research fellow Paul Denholm. But a few hours of energy storage won’t cut it on a fully decarbonized grid.

Could lithium be tapped out of seawater?

Booming electric vehicle sales have spurred a growing demand for lithium. But the light metal, which is essential for making power-packed rechargeable batteries, isn't abundant. Now, researchers report a major step toward tapping a virtually limitless lithium supply: pulling it straight out of seawater.

Can we extract lithium from seawater?

Researchers have devised numerous filters and membranes to try to selectively extract lithium from seawater. But those efforts rely on evaporating away much of the water to concentrate the lithium, which requires extensive land use and time. To date such efforts have not proved economical.