Lithium-ion power tool batteries may power next generation of electric cars
The lightweight powerhouse.
Lithium is a silver-white metal with several unique properties: it’s the lightest of all metals, and it’s highly “reactive”, meaning that it corrodes quickly. It’s heat- resistant—which makes it perfect for use in heat-resistant glass and ceramic materials, and its weight and strength make it ideal for the super-light, super-strong alloys used in space craft. Most commonly, you use lithium in the lithium-ion batteries that power the tiniest and lightest cameras, cell phones and laptop computers. And it starts out as a rock in the ground, probably within a mineral like spodumene.
Lithium is a silver-white metal with several unique properties: it’s the lightest of all metals, and it’s highly “reactive”, meaning that it corrodes quickly. It’s heat- resistant—which makes it perfect for use in heat-resistant glass and ceramic materials, and its weight and strength make it ideal for the super-light, super-strong alloys used in space craft. Most commonly, you use lithium in the lithium-ion batteries that power the tiniest and lightest cameras, cell phones and laptop computers. And it starts out as a rock in the ground, probably within a mineral like spodumene.
