Bolivia, the Saudi Arabia of Lithium, Says Raw Material for EV Batts Won't be Cheap

Bolivia, the Saudi Arabia of Lithium, Says Raw Material for EV Batts Won't be Cheap

Breaking America's dependence on foreign energy supplies and suppliers who often don't like the U.S. is a driving force behind the country's search for vehicles that run on alternative fuels.

That includes electric vehicles, which Detroit has finally realized it must produce.

But there's a problem: Most of the lithium used to make the batteries for those cars is found in Bolivia, whose leftist president (pictured) is no friend of Uncle Sam.

An article appearing in Time notes that with 73 million metric tons of lithium carbonate - more than half the world's supply - Bolivia is the Saudi Arabia of lithium.

The small, impoverished country is also home to Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous head of state, who prides himself on state control of his country's natural resources.

As the article notes, electric-car makers - as well as companies hoping to supply them with lithium-ion batteries - should look to the Andes with sober eyes.

To quote Bolivian Mining Minister Luis Alberto Echazu: "The days of U.S. car companies buying cheap raw materials to sell expensive cars are over."

Indeed, Bolivia's lithium abundance could put car manufacturers in the position of replacing one energy-rich Latin American U.S. critic - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - with another.

Aware of this, automakers including Mitsubishi and Toyota have approached the Morales government to get in on the ground floor of Bolivia's lithium development - and have been routinely turned away.

"All they wanted to do was carry away the raw lithium carbonate," said Echazu, "and that's not what we're after."

What Bolivia is after is a largely, if not purely, state-run lithium industry that might even include actual manufacturing of the coveted lithium-ion batteries.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.