Getting 500,000 electric cars on the world’s roads by 2015 – 1 percent of all the autos produced today – would gobble just 10 percent of the planet’s lithium production each year.

That’s more than enough lithium to meet expected demand, say researchers at consulting firm Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), who recently released the fear-allaying figures.

In fact, the world

“could potentially meet demand for up to 2 million lithium-ion battery powered HEV [hybrid-electric vehicles] and EV vehicles in that same period,” GLG said.

GLG crunched the numbers following Nissan’s announcement that the 24kWh battery pack in its coming zero-emission, all-electric LEAF – unveiled on August 2 – would contain 4 kilograms of lithium.

Prior to the announcement, the automaker (along with just about every other electric-auto outfit) had been hush-hush on the projected lithium footprint of its coming electric fleet. The silence led some analysts to question whether there would be enough of the vital battery material to support a near-term electric car boom.

Nissan’s disclosure finally provides a window into what carmakers are actually planning. According to GLG, if the average electric vehicle has a similar 24kWh battery – and if car demand gets to a half a million – then lithium demand would reach around 2,000 metric tons. Current production is at 20,000 metric tons per year. More

While this sounds good near term, I don’t want my laptop to double in price because of the battery, it seems like  we’ll have to find something other than Lithium for our batteries if we want a significant number of our cars to be electric.