Environmental impacts of lithium-ion batteries

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Lithium batteries are batteries that use lithium as an anode. This type of battery is also referred to as a lithium-ion battery^[1] and is most commonly used for electric vehicles and electronics.^[1] The first type of lithium battery was created by the British chemist M. Stanley Whittingham in the early 1970s and used titanium and lithium as the electrodes. Applications for this battery were limited by the high prices of titanium and the unpleasant scent that the reaction produced.^[2] Today's lithium-ion battery, modeled after the Whittingham attempt by Akira Yoshino, was first developed in 1985.

While lithium-ion batteries can be used as a part of a sustainable solution, shifting all fossil fuel-powered devices to lithium-based batteries might not be the Earth's best option. There is no scarcity yet, but it is a natural resource that can be depleted.^[3] According to researchers at Volkswagen, there are about 14 million tons of lithium left, which corresponds to 165 times the production volume in 2018.^[4]