Are Electric Vehicles Actually Better for the Environment?
Last week my blog was about electric (EVs) and how countries are starting to enforce laws that encourage the use and production of them. During my research, I saw a couple articles that brought up the debate regarding how much better EVs actually are for the environment. It turns out that EVs probably aren't as environmentally friendly as you initially thought, and this is due to the way in which they are manufactured in.
Both conventional cars and EVs both start from raw materials being extracted into smaller components that will be used to build the vehicle. However, towards the end of the process, EVs actually generate more carbon emissions than conventional cars. This is because the batteries that power these EVs tend to use many rare earth elements such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite. Mining rare earth elements cause harm to surface vegetation, soil erosion, and acidification. As the demand for electric vehicles increases, so will the demand for all of these elements. However, what happens when these batteries are no longer in use?
Most of the EVs batteries contain lithium-ion, which can be recycled, but they often aren't recycled as the process is difficult and recycling centers often will not have the proper processes to handle it. Although some of the components are recycled, for example, Tesla claims they recycle 60% of the components from lithium-ion batteries.
However, overall EVs are better for the environment. They emit fewer greenhouse gasses and other pollutants, even after the manufacturing and production process.
In conclusion, EVs still have their cons, but a ton of time for improvement. After the manufacturing process, EVs are very environmentally friendly, once the process becomes cleaner, I hope to see an explosion in the use of electric vehicles, and hopefully a much cleaner environment.
The impact that the mining industry has in regards to EV's is especially present. I like how you pointed this out as its and under discussed issue. Most technology today is reliant on mining and production of products that may have an negative impact on the environment. Also some ethical issues with mining such as child labor, forced labor, etc also come up. And the conditions do not warrant themselves to be a safe environment, I think that if there is to be an technology driven society that relies and utilizes positive or neutral power methods that the sources from that are to be ethical to an extent.
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