THE war for the next great energy-based resource has already begun, and Bolivia is the battleground. Automakers are amping up the production of hybrid-electric cars, but they are in need of more lithium for the cars' batteries. Bolivia just so happens to sit on more than half of the world's known deposits, which lie under the country's salt deserts. "There are salt lakes in Chile and Argentina, and a promising lithium deposit in Tibet, but the prize is clearly in Bolivia," Oji Baba, an executive in Mitsubishi's Base Metals Unit, told the New York Times. However, Bolivia, led by President Evo Morales, has so far been wary of working with companies from other countries. "Maybe there could be the possibility of foreigners accepted as minority partners, or better yet, as our clients," said Saúl Villegas, a Bolivian official who oversees lithium extraction.