The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Biden this year includes incentives for buying an electric vehicle, ideally to persuade people to ditch cars that run on gasoline and switch to EVs.
And as interest in electric vehicles grows, so is the demand for lithium - a key component of electric vehicle batteries.
One way to get more lithium is to open new mines — which could pose various environmental concerns.
But as NPR's Camila Domonoske reports, new mines aren't the only option.