Here is what a reasonably objective study from the Geological Survey of Finland concludes on just how much more electricity generation will be required to retire natural gas and coal…
The answer: a stink load!
But you need batteries to provide power when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. Here is an indication of just how much materials would be required to produce all these batteries:
We won’t hold these estimates against the author as there are a number of variables involved. But you get the basic point: there aren’t enough materials on the planet to achieve this dream. It’s a grand absurd delusion!
The ‘Net Zero’ is just plain virtue signaling.
Isn’t NZ already at net zero when we take into account all the forestry, hillside and paddocks etc?
Battery technology is changing all the time, chemists and battery manufacturers are currently devloping various different chemistries at the moment, one is Sodium Ion from sea water. Sodium Hydroxide is $300 to $800 per metric ton vs $78000 for Lithium Ion. There is also no risk of thermal runaway and they can be easily recycled.
Thinking that Lithium batteries are the only solution to energy storage is like thinking, back in the early 20th century, that the only car that will ever be available is the model T.
https://cen.acs.org/business/inorganic-chemicals/Sodium-comes-battery-world/100/i19
There is also a lot of work and investment going into recycling lithium and other materials that generally end up in land fill, we throw so much away at the minute that could otherwise be reprocessed and reused.
There are also Iron/air/water batteries, a battery using three of the most abundent elements on the planet.
https://formenergy.com/technology/battery-technology/
These are just two of emerging alternative battery chemistries at the moment, there are heaps more. Go do some research otherwise you are looking as dumb as the people running the Lithium industry want you to be.