[cocoggu]

"It has since waned as people spend less time staring at their screens: as demand for consumer electronics fell, so did that for cobalt."

Stop me if I'm wrong, but the article totally missed the fact that new car battery technologies are mostly cobalt free. I feel it better explains the lack of demand than the article explanation.

[zaroth]

Ok…

> Even a boom in electric vehicles has not been sufficient to counteract this, since manufacturers have done their best to reduce use of the formerly super-expensive metal.

[joak]

When a resource is scarce we can either dig for more or replace by something equivalent.

It was a time when there wasn't enough whales to light everyone. We killed (almost) all the whales before coming up with something else (oil)

[cocoggu]

Oops indeed not totally awake yet

[photochemsyn]

Yes, was going to say just this. E.g.

https://borates.today/lifepo4-batteries-vehicles/

>"These days, LiFePO4 batteries are found everywhere and have various applications, including use in boats, solar systems, and vehicles. LiFePO4 batteries are cobalt-free and less expensive than most alternatives. It is non-toxic and has a longer shelf life."

[erikpukinskis]

Right, and cobalt is a conflict mineral, which is partly why battery designers and researchers have been designing it out of batteries.