The BIGGEST problem with clean energy

I really enjoy your channel, but this series seems to take a Toyota set of 'facts' as gospel.  Take the 'problems' with using Li-ion as storage.  1.  Flammability- yes, they can catch on fire- but not often, and catch on fire far less than Gas cars, which average about 200,000 car fires a year here in the US.  And Hydrogen- extremely flammable as well- think Hindenburg...  2.  Capacity Loss- again, yes, they do lose some capacity- but not much.  In fact, their losses have proven far less than anticipated in several studies.  Tesla just released an overview of the batteries in their cars, where the losses were tapering off between 8-10% after 200,000 miles.  Consumer Reports a couple of years ago looked at a Prius, whose older-tech-Metal-Hydride battery capacity was virtually unchanged (though admittedly, this was a small sample).  3.  Supply- this is kind of silly.  This is a new industry, so yes, capacity to build batteries is not yet built out.  But within 5 years, there will already be many times the capacity of today.  And Lithium itself?  Running out of it?  Again, silly.  Lithium is a fairly abundant resource.  Even if we were to exhaust all the mines on earth (unlikely), there is plenty of it in sea water- and the oceans are vast.  Additionally, there are several, well-funded companies around the world developing recycling processes to re-use all the valuable minerals from old batteries.  4.  Cost- they said the same thing 10 years ago... and then the cost decreased by about 80-90% since then.  And it will continue to drop, perhaps not quite as dramaticly, but it will, especially as manufacturing processes improve, and chemistries improve, and energy density goes up.

I really like your show, but this particular series, so far, shows very little in the way of research, and instead seems to rely on a Toyota-centric POV to promote their hybrids and Fuel Cell technology.  I would not have chosen Toyota to sponsor a show on this subject, as their bias pervades the show.  And I like Toyotas- one of our cars is a Prius!  We do need more energy storage solutions- but all of the ones you show are not new, and have been around as long as Lithium Ion battery storage, if not longer.  There is a reason none of them are yet successful in the marketplace, including your upcoming video (I am guessing) on using Solar Thermal to store energy in molten salt.  Even flywheels are being looked at... again.

Tesla already has a path to reduce the cost of their higher power batteries, with nickel and cobalt, to around $50 per KWH.  Using a Lithium Iron Phosphate chemistry, they could get it down to $40 per KWH.  And if they ever get a drop-in solid electrolyte, which has a high probability of happening over the next few years, the cost per KWH will drop even further.

I am glad you are taking a look at the possibilities of our future, hopefully one devoid of using any carbon-based fuels.  Li-ion gives us the chance to get off of those fuels NOW.  But there are many other companies trying to slow that future down, because of profits to be made using the status quo.  The other storage possibilities, which warrant research, are still pipe dreams however, or worse, red herrings for other interests.  Frankly, if you want a complement to using renewable fuels because of the worry about intermittency, I would suggest a deep dive into LFTR nuclear reactors, which use Thorium in a Molten Salt environment.  Unfortunately, Nuclear Power bias is making that a long climb uphill...