Lithium batteries have revolutionised electric vehicles (EVs) over the past few years. They are also used in other products, including cellphones, vaping devices, solar power backup storage, electric toothbrushes, tools and laptops. On average, an electric vehicle battery uses about 8kgs of lithium, but some can use far more. Some of Tesla’s batteries, for example, use about 62.6kgs of lithium. Lithium batteries can be expensive and difficult to extract, requiring a huge amount of water and heavy-metal intensive technology to produce. Lithium extraction also causes mineral waste, as well as so…