Timothy Taylor writes,

annual global production of lithium has more than doubled from from about 16,000 metric tons in 2004 to over 36,000 metric tons by 2014. Even with this rise in quantity produced, the price of a metric ton of lithium carbonate has risen from $5,180 in 2011 to $6,600 in 2014.

He cites a report from Goldman Sachs on emerging themes, one of which is “Lithium is the new gasoline.” (The other claims in the report are also provocative.)

Changing our energy technology does not automatically eliminate scarcity. It is instead a form of substitution.