There’s a significant disconnect between driving a zero-emission vehicle that is only affordable for the elite and the ecological destruction that can be caused in bringing such a vehicle to market. But solutions are plentiful, says Charles Edelstein of Executive Placements.
There’s a pecking order when it comes to plug-in hybrid versus electric vehicle sustainability. Kumar Venkat, founder and CEO of Climate Trajectories, a company providing climate data-related services, makes the point in an article for Illuminem that the critical minerals needed to make a single battery electric vehicle (BEV) could be used to manufacture as many as six plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) or 90 hybrid vehicles – and could save many more emissions over the lifetimes of these vehicles than just manufacturing that one BEV
Perhaps, a few of the northern European governments with staunch EV policies would argue that the above is misleading. A 2023 New York Times article reads: “In Norway, the electric vehicle future has arrived. About 80% of new cars sold are battery powered. As a result, the air is cleaner, the streets are quieter, and the grid has not collapsed.”
The sale of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars will end in Norway in 2025, with 80% of new-car sales being electric in 2022 as the country shifts to battery-powered mobility only. However, the entire lifecycle of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) should be considered before any ‘Planet Utopia’ claims can be made. “While BEVS are environmentally friendly in a local context, globally they tend to leave a big climate footprint,” say senior environmental researchers.
“The manufacture of BEV batteries requires expensive and rare metals, while the secure disposal of used and broken batteries is a problem that is being conveniently palmed off on poor, vulnerable countries,” they add. Those in senior safety officer jobs believe this is happening because countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, which produces 60% of the world’s cobalt, do not have the legislation in place to protect themselves.
Vendat suggests the immediate challenges of the EV market are three-fold:
- The minerals needed to produce EVs could come under supply constraints by such time that many countries have fully outlawed ICE vehicles.
- The EV supply chain, as it relates to minerals and batteries, is largely powered by fossil fuels and produces volumes of emissions before any EVs are able to hit the road.
- Grid electricity, unlike green energy sources such as solar and wind power, can certainly not be considered carbon-free.
While it is difficult to directly weigh up any damage caused by mineral extraction for EV batteries (industrial-scale habitat destruction, chemical contamination and noise pollution, and high levels of water consumption as just four examples), with the carbon emissions that will be curtailed by electric vehicles in the future, it is crucial that smart mobility initiatives are implemented in such a way that they can benefit society at large.
There is a need for governments and the private sector to collaboratively invest in less destructive battery-manufacturing processes. Solid-state batteries, for example, offer an extensive range of benefits over lithium-ion ones, including the need for extensively fewer materials to be mined. There is also a need for investment in sustainable modes of public transport that reduce the need for individual car ownership.
