I've seen dozens
of Tesla
electric vehicles
( EVs)
( EVs)
here in
southeastern
Michigan.
The expensive models
look good,
and had good
sheet metal
and trim margins,
but the few
less expensive
Model 3's
that I've seen
all had
visible problems.
Several had
obviously crooked
chrome trim,
and one had
a half burned out
center stoplight.
Strangely,
almost every Tesla
that I have seen,
was painted black.
But maybe black is
an appropriate color?
Because our
local DTE Energy
gets about
65% of it's
electric power
from burning
black coal !
And that's why
I call Teslas
"Coal Cars".
German
ZDF public television
recently broadcast a report
showing how electric cars
are far from being "green".
The report titled:
“Batteries in twilight
– The dark side
of e-mobility”
shows how
the mining
of raw materials
needed for
producing
EV automobile
batteries
is destructive
to the environment.
The mining
of the raw materials
often takes place
in third world countries,
where workers
are forced to work
under bad conditions,
and no regard
is given to protecting
the environment.
Battery technology
is evolving fast enough
to become a replacement
for gasoline and diesel fuels
in our lifetimes, but
(1)
The battery pack
price needs to
be cut, at least
in half, and
(2)
Battery manufacturing
must be “sustainable”,
with a recycling effort
to reclaim spent materials.
I know of
no such recycling
today, like what has
been developed
for ordinary
lead-acid batteries --
approximately 80%
of lead-acid battery
materials are recycled.
Only then
will electric cars
begin to flood
the global markets,
to replace gasoline
engines.
And the
environmental
destruction
of third world
countries,
where the
needed
battery minerals
are mined,
will exceed the
already serious
levels.
Note:
All mining is dirty business,
including both lithium, cobalt
and oil or tar sands.
(A)
LITHIUM MINING:
Lithium is
a chemical element.
Its an alkali metal.
It is mostly found
in pegmatitic minerals,
and is mined.
Every electric car
battery pack
needs 20 – 30 kg.
of lithium.
Chinese
companies
control
most of the
lithium supply chain,
ZDF reports,
and the miners
are cheated by them.
The report showed
one source of lithium
in the desert
of northern Chile.
Everyday
at that mine,
21 million liters
of ground water
get spumped
to the surface,
where it evaporates,
and a remaining sludge
with 6% lithium,
gets shipped to
processing plants.
The operations
are transforming
the Chilean
desert landscape
into a vast
industrial
wasteland.
The Chilean lithium
mining operations
are pumping out
what little precious
groundwater remains,
ruining the water supply
the local population
needs to survive.
What little vegetation
there was to begin with,
is now dying due to
falling water tables.
Overall,
mining operations
are expected to
expand four-fold
within the next decade
and the mining companies
profit while the local citizens
lose their livelihoods.
The Northern Chilean desert
is being ruined by
widespread lithium mining.
The automotive
companies,
the buyers
of the lithium batteries,
insist that they have
strict requirements
in the sourcing
of their products
and make sure
it is done in a
sustainable way.
Obviously they are having
little effect.
COBALT MINING:
Two thirds of the cobalt
currently comes
from the Congo,
where the mining rights
have been acquired
by China.
Today’s batteries
for electric cars
also require about
10 – 15 kg. of cobalt,
two thirds of which
comes from
the authoritarian
Republic of the Congo.
The mining rights
are owned by
Chinese companies.
Here, as well,
the benefits of
the mining operations
do not find their way
to the local residents,
who are forced to live
under horrendous
conditions.
Privately operated
local companies
are not allowed,
unless the authorities
are paid bribes
to look the other way.
In these
rogue operations,
work conditions
are primitive
and dangerous.
The ZDF reports
that some 20%
of Congolese cobalt
is extracted
in this manner.
Profits do not
find their way
down to the miners.
The ground around
the mining villages
are now perforated
with vertical shafts
that pose
a constant danger
to children who risk
falling into them.
Work conditions
for the miners
are dangerous.
The money they earn
is not enough to provide
for their families.
So their children
are forced to work too,
and do not go to school.
The valuable raw material
makes its way to China,
where it gets processed
for the manufacture
of electric batteries,
according to
Dr. Mathias John
of Amnesty International.
Congolese cobalt
likely is contained
in the car batteries
of German electric cars.
German automakers,
such as Mercedes,
insist they make an effort
to ensure that
their supply chains
“exclusively process cobalt
from industrial mines
that have the proper
sustainability standards.”
Note:
Other materials needed
Other materials needed
for electric car batteries
include manganese,
and graphite.