Construction of the first large-scale geothermal facility dedicated to lithium extraction and renewables in the Salton Sea area began in 2024.

However, Liu offers a caveat: “The Salton Sea has a lot of other heavy metals in it, and getting lithium out versus getting useful lithium out are two completely different things,” he says. “Extracting something that is pure enough, free of contaminants, suitable for battery use and that it makes economic sense – those are completely different questions.”

Mass production

Domestically, the US does not currently have a way to source all of its lithium-ion battery raw materials or any commercial scale battery manufacturing plant. Doing so would involve significant capital investment in physical public infrastructure, as well as training the workforce and building the necessary facilities.

“The U.S. has a long way to go as it explores a move toward battery production for electric vehicles,” says Liu.

Initial thoughts were that the US could develop battery manufacturing facilities in Imperial County to use the lithium as close to its extraction point as possible. But there are additional energy, water and transportation infrastructure—as well as workforce training—hurdles that must be overcome before these facilities can be built, explains Isaac Martin, professor and president of the Institute. Department of Urban Studies and Planning within the School of Social Sciences. Martin studies the ability to expand the high-wage, high-skilled workforce in the area as a result of the lithium discovery.

I drive daily

Once the raw materials for the batteries are obtained, they are manufactured and installed. Most EV batteries will last at least 10 years.

However, one of the widespread criticisms of electric vehicles is that they use electricity that may not be generated from renewable resources. So using an electric vehicle powered by, say, coal electricity isn’t just as bad for the environment?

Not at all, Liu replies.

Even though electric vehicles are charged with electricity that is generated by a problematic source, they still provide an environmental benefit.

“Gasoline vehicles are a problem,” says Liu. “Not only does it pollute, but in a diffuse way because there are so many vehicles that disperse their pollutants as they travel.” A power plant that might emit greenhouse gases and pollution, however, does so in a concentrated way that is likely located in more remote areas, so mitigation and environmental cleanup are easier to manage.

“People who don’t like EVs usually say that if electricity is dirty, you’re not actually saving anything,” says Liu. “But that’s not quite true – there’s still a benefit, as well as a potential, to using clean energy to power them.”

Beyond their green advantages, electric vehicles are better equipped to handle the growing computing power required to operate today’s advanced cars. While gasoline vehicles have alternators that can create the electricity needed to run on-board computers, Liu explains, electric vehicles can easily run existing computer systems, with the ability to operate even more complicated ones as the design evolves. “As you need more and more electrical elements in vehicles, especially in fully autonomous vehicles, that’s what electrification is for,” says Liu.

Reuse and recycle

Just because an electric vehicle might reach the end of its primary use doesn’t mean its battery is dead. According to Liu, after years of light use, such as the short daily commute, these batteries could have a second life. However, the reuse of EV batteries comes down to economic feasibility. “There are a lot of intuitively good ideas that turn out to be quite expensive,” says Liu. Finding a secondary use for an EV battery “seems like a great idea because the battery is not discharged, so we should be able to collect more of it,” he says. But “after the battery has serviced the car for, say, eight years and you take it out, then you have to re-certify the battery,” he adds. “It’s still good, but is it still safe? You may need to separate the good cells from the bad before putting the battery back in.”

But once the EV battery has officially reached the end of its life, what’s next? Well, recycling is not what you might expect, but it is possible.

“When these batteries were originally designed, they weren’t designed to be recycled,” says Liu. “In fact, the lithium-ion battery is probably one of the most difficult batteries to recycle.”

So while recycling is possible, Liu says, the question is at what economic and environmental cost.