In concert with Thinkprogress doing free marketing for Tesla, here’s some battery information:

Lithium of lithium ion batteries is only about 2% of the battery by weight. Tesla’s EV batteries positive electrode is lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide and the Powerwall is lithium nickel manganese cobalt.

The negative electrode is graphite. Electrolyte consists of ethylene carbonate, diethyl carbonate and lithium hexafluorophosphate.

If I were living in Reno, I’d hope there will be a NPDES and spill response plan for the Gigafactory. Then again, we’re talking a libertarian owner who benefits greatly from government largess here.

The limiting metal right now is cobalt. The demand will exceed supply by 2020 when the model 3 comes out. And with the larger battery packs that may put the equation further out of whack. Maybe cobalt is the new “plastics.” It’s mined in Africa and mostly in the Congo.