Electric Cars Are Not Particularly Green - Blowing Up Mountain Not Environmental Virtue (solar panels, recycle)
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The article, The Lithium Gold Rush: Inside the Race to Power Electric Vehicles in the far from "denier" New York Times (link), points out that there is much environmental damage from manufacturing electirc automobiles. An excerpt from the article states:
Quote:
Originally Posted by New York Times
Atop a long-dormant volcano in northern Nevada, workers are preparing to start blasting and digging out a giant pit that will serve as the first new large-scale lithium mine in the United States in more than a decade — a new domestic supply of an essential ingredient in electric car batteries and renewable energy.
The mine, constructed on leased federal lands, could help address the near total reliance by the United States on foreign sources of lithium.
But the project, known as Lithium Americas, has drawn protests from members of a Native American tribe, ranchers and environmental groups because it is expected to use billions of gallons of precious ground water, potentially contaminating some of it for 300 years, while leaving behind a giant mound of waste.
“Blowing up a mountain isn’t green, no matter how much marketing spin people put on it,” said Max Wilbert, who has been living in a tent on the proposed mine site while twolawsuits seeking to block the project wend their way through federal courts.
While the U.S.'s pall-mall race towards reliance on electric cars may signal virtue, it is far from harmless. The reflex to protect the earth has merit; not all actions taken in its name are beneficial.
In addition to lithium, lithium-ion batteries also use cobalt, manganese, nickel, and graphite, none of which the United States has appreciable domestic reserves of. The Chinese produce 80% of the world’s total output of raw materials for advanced batteries, and controls 97% of the processing of Rare Earth Elements needed in electric cars. https://www.instituteforenergyresear...attery-market/
Also, massive amounts of new mining will be needed to supply all of these materials. This study done at the University of Cambridge gives a bit of an idea how much.
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According to Professor Kelly, if we replace all of the UK vehicle fleet with EVs, assuming they use the most resource-frugal next-generation batteries, we would need the following materials: about twice the annual global production of cobalt; three quarters of the world’s production lithium carbonate; nearly the entire world production of neodymium; and more than half the world’s production of copper in 2018.
And that's just to replace the roughly 39.4 million vehicles in the UK, it becomes a slightly larger problem when we try to replace the 287 million vehicles in the United States. Also, most of these materials are going to be in high demand for wind turbines and solar panels, along with large storage batteries to help deal with the poor reliability of "green" energy. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tilakdoshi/2020/08/02/the-dirty-secrets-of-clean-electric-vehicles/?sh=22aa5f38650b
A few other points.
A 2019 German study showed that to manufacture one 75 kWh Tesla battery 23 to 32 thousand pounds of CO2 is released.
A Yale study said
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It is counterproductive to promote EVs in regions where electricity is produced from oil, coal, and lignite combustion.
And for "green" power generation, a 2018 Dutch study found
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Netherlands’ green ambitions alone would consume a major share of global minerals. “Exponential growth in [global] renewable energy production capacity,” the study noted, “is not possible with present-day technologies and annual metal production.
In addition to lithium, lithium-ion batteries also use cobalt, manganese, nickel, and graphite, none of which the United States has appreciable domestic reserves of. The Chinese produce 80% of the world’s total output of raw materials for advanced batteries, and controls 97% of the processing of Rare Earth Elements needed in electric cars.
Fossil fuels may be around longer than some have predicted.
Funny how many people want to get away from oil because of the perceived need to import oil from other countries. But few see any issue importing EV batteries and EV battery materials from China.
Nothing has zero environmental impact. EV have way lower an impact than ICE autos. Lots of misinformation being spread by the American Petroleum Institute. Don't be a rube.
EV advocates are quick to abandon their pet causes for new causes. Remember when leftists insisted that lands couldn't be developed because they disrupted some obscure reptile habitat, while not dying, would be inconvenienced?
In addition to lithium, lithium-ion batteries also use cobalt, manganese, nickel, and graphite, none of which the United States has appreciable domestic reserves of. The Chinese produce 80% of the world’s total output of raw materials for advanced batteries, and controls 97% of the processing of Rare Earth Elements needed in electric cars. https://www.instituteforenergyresear...attery-market/
Also, massive amounts of new mining will be needed to supply all of these materials. This study done at the University of Cambridge gives a bit of an idea how much.
And that's just to replace the roughly 39.4 million vehicles in the UK, it becomes a slightly larger problem when we try to replace the 287 million vehicles in the United States. Also, most of these materials are going to be in high demand for wind turbines and solar panels, along with large storage batteries to help deal with the poor reliability of "green" energy. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tilakdoshi/2020/08/02/the-dirty-secrets-of-clean-electric-vehicles/?sh=22aa5f38650b
A few other points.
A 2019 German study showed that to manufacture one 75 kWh Tesla battery 23 to 32 thousand pounds of CO2 is released.
To me the electric car appeal is not "greenness". I am aware that most or all purportedly "green" things turn out to be not so green. To me the appeal is avoiding side trips to the gas station and virtually unlimited torque from the instant you release the brakes. Perhaps best of all, I never head out late for work and realize that I need to stop to get gas. I just have to remember to plug the car in every night, which is a much easier routine to get into. I do not have an Ev, but my next vehicle might be one (as long as my wife gets something that meets other needs like off road capability towing, and road trips). I think is is ideal for my 54 mile round trip commute to work and I can take one of the company fleet cars if I need to go to Chicago or Columbus or somewhere similar on short notice.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 05-18-2021 at 12:52 PM..
So basically the environmental problem with EV's is when they are used and made in places that don't produce green electricity. Seems odd to be blaming the car instead of the power source?
The idea of converting to EV's is to punish affluence, and make transportation cumbersome.
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