There is not enough lithium (or copper, or rare earths) for everyone to drive electric.

Carbon Brief’s minerals section: resources are larger than 2022–2050 demand on current geology. Lithium is not rare; it is unevenly processed. Copper is the tighter, more boring constraint because every energy transition uses it. Rare earths in motors are being designed down (Tesla and others have shown low/no heavy-rare-earth paths).

Shortages in a given year are a mine-and-refinery story — Chile, Australia, China processing, Congo cobalt, Indonesian nickel. That is geopolitics and lead time. It is not “the crust of the Earth ran out.” Oil, remember, is a flow you must keep extracting forever. A pack is a stock you can recycle.