April 3, 2023--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Decarbonizing an economy looks to be a lengthy and arduous process, particularly when it comes to transportation, where vehicles powered by internal combustion engines burning hydrocarbons must be replaced by vehicles powered by electricity. While automakers have gotten religion about electric transportation, there remains doubt about whether the lithium supply chain can be built out fast enough to meet the expected surge in demand for lithium-ion batteries that are being relied upon to power next-generation cars and trucks.