Lithium is finite – but clean technology relies on such non-renewable resources Parakram Pyakurel, Southampton Solent University Until we cut consumption, we will only shift problems from one natural resource to another. Replacing conventional cars with electric cars A quick calculation shows that, if all conventional cars (those using petrol/gas or diesel) were replaced by electric cars, the world would run out of lithium in around five decades. I take the total amount of lithium from the US Geological Survey, which estimates there are currently 14m tonnes of proven reserves worldwide. I used industry figures for the total amount of passenger cars sold worldwide – about 69m in 2016. That same year, less than a million electric vehicles were sold, even including plug-in hybrids. Now, if we imagine a future where all passenger cars were electric and the number of cars sold per year remains constant at 2016 levels, almost 69m (technically: 69.46m minus 0.75m) electric cars will have to be produced each year even at a very cautious estimate. Our assumption here that the demand of cars will remain constant is [...]