# Lithium Metal: The Key to Green Transportation
## 4 Discussion
### Lithium Availability and Demand  
Today, lithium is among the world's most needed commodities. Due to the hurry-up of the shift from gasoline to electric cars and the growing geopolitical oil tension, clean energy technology is among the best choices. Being a part of a solution without promising long-term sustainability is not enough. So it is inevitable to evaluate lithium availability by distinguishing its production, resources, and reserves. Since EV adoption and battery production are expanding, any new sources of lithium supply will play a critical role in mitigating the rising demand. Lithium in metallic form started getting attention in 1994,  
Figure 12: The availability of lithium and electric vehicle sales by countries in 2021. This figure presents round numbers of countries greater than 2% excluding the United States production. Data from [40; 67]. Figure 13: Electric vehicles vs. gasoline vehicles. and since that time, it has gradually increased up to the present. However, it showed a slight decrease in 2009 due to the global economic crisis of 2008 [28]. According to [PERSON] [41], global lithium resources have reached approximately 89 million tons, reflecting an extreme increase of over 63% since 2010 due to the growing demand for industrial uses and more than 24 countries, led by Bolivia (with 24%), sharing that resource. The increasing demand for electronics and EVs necessitates enough LIB, which has drastically increased production. This demand has been accelerated by government policies towards the promotion of electric cars. The European Union, for example, promotes EVs through two directive bills: (1) Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on energy end-use efficiency and energy services; and (2) directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 aimed at promoting clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles [26]. The European Union goes far in green transport by introducing the Green Car Initiative in its Economic Recovery Plan [99]. Furthermore, as part of the Green Car Initiative, the European Commission's Transport and Energy General Direction (DG TREN) finances a significant European \"electromobility\" initiative on electric vehicles and other EV related infrastructures [100]. It recently issued a revised Clean Vehicles Directive (Dir. 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU) that promotes clean mobility solutions and strengthens the deployment of low-and zero-emission vehicles. Each member state of the EU launched a detailed plan for deploying electric vehicles to decrease carbon emissions to zero starting from 2021 [101]. This initiative necessitates huge lithium for LIB production. Though the speed and duration of achieving e-mobility is different, all countries on the globe are implementing green transportation initiatives. Here, the authors take a few EU member states as an example and discuss their big plans to promote green transport for the past decades. They have put in place national programs for EVs, including financing research, purchasing EV incentives such as reducing taxes, insurance facilities, providing convenient parking and charging facilities, and numerous subsidies [26]. France is rolling out countrywide charging stations and building plants for electric vehicle batteries; Britain is ambitious to not only have the biggest electric vehicle plant in Europe but also the city of London wishes to become European EV capital by investing millions of dollars in the construction of electric vehicle infrastructure [85]. The Danish government is rolling out a nationwide grid that is composed of thousands of charging stations and the government charges EVs fewer taxes 25% compared to petrol vehicles (180% + 25%), free parking in some cities, with free recharging stations at some parking spaces.