Man, this thread is getting ridiculous. I'm not sure why you think you're the only one who is aware of China's impact on the lithium market, and that somehow all of the automakers have no idea about this. Maybe you should write them a letter since you clearly think they are oblivious to it.

Also battery costs coming down is not dependent on lithium prices going down or even necessarily staying the same. The goal is smaller, more efficient batteries that use fewer rare earth metals. And guess what? Battery makers everywhere are already making progress on this.

I think you should consider how illogical it is to posit that historical trends in battery pricing is a poor way to predict future pricing. Sure, things change and it's not a given that things will continue this way for forever... but using what we have seen in the recent past as a guide for the future is certainly better than just making random guesses.

I think the bottom line is that you've found every potential problem for electric cars without recognizing that problems can be solved. It would be like at the time cell phones were invented saying "This will NEVER work! What are we going to do, put towers everywhere? All over the world? Even rural areas? Do you even know how many towers that would be?! It's impossible!"