Electric Grass Is Not Greener

Electric Vehicles Are Not Sustainable

The following is a guest post by Patrice Tullai

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Photo by Michael Marais on Unsplash

In the “Race to Zero”, a United Nations, (UN) backed global campaign to take rigorous and immediate actions to half emissions by 2030, the electric vehicle, (EV) has been prized as a means to make a difference, and the transition from combustion engine vehicle to EV highly encouraged and praised.

EV’s are urged on for many reasons, firstly, it takes the responsibility away from powerful corporations and the wealthy and places it in the individual, by scolding, shaming, and punishing people with carbon taxes on petroleum for driving gas powered vehicles. Trendy causes are the way companies deprecate on your eco-conscience to pay high prices with no company accountability for their production destruction or their dangerous designs. People can also gain a false sense that their choice to drive an EV can make a big difference. Cars are an easy target. EVs will not save the planet. The move to EVs will make no meaningful difference. For some, they will make things much worse.

Electric Vehicles are being sold as a deliverance. Governments are ignoring the REAL problems of global warming. Deforestation is one of the biggest contributors of this. EV conversion will make almost no difference to negate the problem. In fact, mining and manufacturing of EVs is a major contributor of climate change.

The USEPA states the producers of greenhouse gases in 2021 are as follows:

• Industry: 23%

• Transportation, Ships, Planes, Trucks and Cars: 28%

• Electricity Production: 25%

• Commercial and Residential: 13%

• Agriculture: 10%

Land Use and Forestry offset 12%.

Managed forest and other lands are a net sink, they absorb CO2. Planting trees and preserving wild spaces are effective and beautiful. People need nature.

There are far greater issues that would make a difference in CO2 emissions than EVs. For example, ships owned by Carnival Corporation emit 10x more sulfur oxides (SO) than ALL European cars. Also, the carbon footprint of just one large cruise ship can be greater than 12,000 cars.

Carnival Corporation just completed building the largest cruise ship in the world called the “Celebration”. It weighs 183,521 gross registered tons with a passenger capacity of 6,631 in 2,687 staterooms. Celebration’s length is 1130 ft. (344 m) with 18 decks. It has the first-at-sea roller coaster.

Vacationers generate 8 times more carbon dioxide (CO2) on a cruise ship than on land. Cruise ships are known as heavy carbon emitters despite industry greenwashing. They use massive volumes and low quality fuel.

Royal Caribbean’s “Icon of the Sea” holds 5610 passengers and 2350 crew members. It is 5 times larger than the Titanic with 19 floors and 40 plus bars, restaurants, and bowling alleys.

Another egregious industry that creates massive carbon emissions is the private jet. Private jets generate ten, (10) times more carbon emissions than commercial airlines. Private jet owners are 0.0008% of the global population. Fifty, (50)% of all aviation emissions are caused by one, 1% of the population. Approximately one, (1) of every six, (6) flights is a private jet flight. The typical private jet owner has a net worth of 190 million. Private jets contribute only two, (2)% of all taxes that fund the Federal Aviation Administration, (FAA). A seven-point-five, (7.5)% tax is paid by commercial airline travellers. The taxes pay for staffing air traffic control and maintenance of runways.

Private jet travel has increased by twenty, (20)% since 2020, increasing emissions by twenty three, (23)%. Most of these flights are domestic, equalling about eighty-five, (85)% of all private jet flights. Private jets create more carbon emissions than any other form of transportation. A single 17 minute private jet flight produces emissions that equal 1/4 of what an average person produces in a year. The average journey on one private jet produces CO2 equivalent to driving a gas powered vehicle from Paris to Rome sixteen, (16) times. The typical private jet burns around 5,000 gallons of fuel per hour. That is equivalent to about four-hundred, (400) passenger cars. The average commercial jet burns about half that much. Private jets account for about four, (4)% of greenhouse gases around the world.

INVISIBLE

There is no visible pollution from the EV tailpipe however the destruction caused by mining for it’s components is staggering. Mining, extraction, production, and disposal of the materials needed for EVs create an unimaginable threat.

Most EVs use rare earth elements (REE) such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite. Mining these elements requires astonishingly carbon-intensive practices. Mining REE threatens areas of incredible biodiversity and often times is located on wildscapes or “virgin lands”. The mining processing of REE releases toxic compounds into the surrounding areas and most often into the water sources. Ungodly amounts of water are necessary to process these metals.

LITHIUM

Lithium (Li) is the first alkali metal in the periodic table. It is a highly reactive and inflammable element. Li reacts violently with water and water vapor. It is difficult to putout EV flames because the vehicles lithium-ion batteries keep burning until all the energy is released. It can take as long as 24-hours to put it out.

It takes 6,000 to 20,000 gallons of water when extinguishing an EV fire. EV fires occur at twice the rate of fossil fuel vehicles, 2 to 3 per 10,000 and 1 in 10,000 respectively. Scientists are still trying to figure out all the details of what actually happens (chemically) when a lithium-ion battery catches fire.

Lithium is present all over the world but does not exists in its pure state in nature. It is number 3 on the periodic table and that number represents the number of protons in a single atom of the element. Lithium is harbored in salt deserts. To the unseen eye one could look at these landscapes and think, “it’s just a desert, nothing there, who cares?” In these deserts are very ancient specialized eco-systems. All wild places have life. You simply must take pause to see it. Even the seemingly starkest places are filled with interconnected perfection.

The race toward “Net Zero” emissions depends on lithium. If we consider the emissions associated with extracting lithium, the transition to “green energy” may not be as efficient as we are lead to believe, especially since mining is completely reliant on fossil fuels. Producing a battery weighing 1,100 pounds emits 70% more CO2 than producing a gas or diesel car. Furthermore, lithium mining requires copious amounts of water. To extract one ton of lithium requires about 500,000 liters, (132,086 gallons) of water. Afterwards this water usually goes on to poison the groundwater and create many other health risks.

Chile holds the largest lithium supply and is the worlds second largest producer. Most of the world’s lithium comes from an area called the “lithium triangle” in Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. It contains about fifty-four, (54)% of the worlds lithium reserves, totalling about eleven, (11) million metric tons.

Australia operates the largest lithium mine in the world, the Greenbushes Lithium Mine. It is an open-pit mining operation in Western Australia, located to the South of the town of Greenbushes, WA. The worlds lithium mine reserves in millions of metric tons are as follows:

• Chile 9,200

• Australia 4,700

• Argentina 1,900

• China 1,500

• USA 750

• Canada 530

• Zimbabwe 220

• Brazil 95

• Portugal 60

• Others 2,100

Just two (2) companies extract lithium in Chile, domestic producer SQM (SQMA.SN), and U.S. firm Albemarke (ALB.N). At the end of April 2023 Chile’s President Gabriel Boric announced the nationalization of its lithium reserves for economic and social reasons. Communities living around Northern Chile’s lithium salt flats are divided on their wishes. Some leaders say they demand more profits be channeled their way, while others will resist any new lithium mining. The impacts on ecology are staggering. The Latina de Santa Rosa, a Ramsar Wetland is of international importance.

A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as "The Convention on Wetlands", an international environmental treaty signed on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, under the auspices of UNESCO. It came into force on 21 December 1975, when it was ratified by a sufficient number of nations. It provides for national action and international cooperation regarding the conservation of wetlands, and wise sustainable use of their resources. Ramsar identifies wetlands of international importance, especially those providing waterfowl habitat.

As of May 2023, there are 2,491 Ramsar sites around the world, protecting 256,759,538 hectares (634,466,640 acres), and 171 national governments are participating. Fifty Three (53) animal species live in the Laguna de Santa Rosa Wetland in Chile, seventeen (17) of these are endangered. Those peoples who have lost their land and ethos receive no benefits. At this time there are no EVs in Chile.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People was adopted by 144 countries, including Chile in 2007. Four countries voted against UNDRIP, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. This declaration provides indigenous community right that mining companies must obtain “free, prior, and informed consent” from Indigenous people in order to operate on ancestral land.

In the state of Nevada in the USA hundreds of mining permits are being distributed. Nevada is the site of the new gold rush and it is lithium. Plans are currently in motion to destroy a sacred Native American area in NE Nevada known as Peehee Mu’huh, also called Thacker Pass. This land is still used today for ceremony and collection of traditional healing plants. Yet, the corporation known as Lithium America, a Canadian Corporation, has taken cruel and heavy steps against the Paiute and Shoshone Tribes, as well as ranchers and residents of this area. Currently there is a lawsuit to stop tribal members and allies from praying at the sacred site. You can learn more by visiting www.ProtectThackerPass.org.

Peehee Mu’huh, (Thacker Pass) is home to several Endangered Species. The Pygmy rabbit, (Brachylagus idahoeensis), the Lahontan Cutthroat trout, (Oncorhynchus ckarkii henshawi), the largest subspecies of cutthroat trout, and the State fish of Nevada. Peehee Mu’huh is also home to the Greater sage-grouse, (centrocercus urophasianus), and the endearing and enduring rare Nevada wildflower the Tiehm’s buckwheat, (Eriogonum tiehmii). The Bureau of Land Management, the (BLM) started permitting for Nevada Lithium mining less than one week after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the rare flower an endangered specie. It would almost be humorous if it was not so tragic. In a race to “save the planet” we are destroying it. Peehee Mu’huh is also home to Old Growth Sagebrush, Pronghirn Antelope, Long-billed Curlews, Golden Eagles, Coyotes, Big Hirn Sheep, Jack Rabbits, Rabbitbrish, King River Oyrg, (a critically endangered snail), and many others.

The MIT Climate Portal reports that for every ton of lithium mined, 15 tons of CO2 is released into the atmosphere. This process is contributing to climate change.

The production of lithium-ion batteries that power EVs cause more damage, displacement and CO2 emissions than the production of gas power vehicles, the extraction methods for lithium and cobalt are VERY energy intensive and fossil fuel dependent. Most lithium mining occurs in regions already affected by water shortages.

For every ton of lithium mined, 15 tons of CO2 are emitted into the air. Mining one metric ton of lithium requires two (2) million liters of water. Lithium can be extracted in three (3) ways: from hard rock, which is common in Australia, from sedimentary rock, a process in development in the U.S. Southwest, and through the evaporation brines occurring in salt flats on the South America Atacama Plateau. This last method is the most water intensive. There are massive ponds with salty lithium waters left to evaporate, which can take many years. This depletes an already very scarce water system, killing wetlands and destroying communities. A desert exists where rivers once flowed. Rivers and lakes all around Chile are disappearing.

A slow violence is being played onto several indigenous nations. The ancient cultures of the indigenous Lickan Antalya peoples, the Colla peoples traditions and lifestyles are being destroyed. These people coexist with the natural world and practise reverence ceremonies with the guidance of Pachamama (earth mother). Lithium mining is forcing the people away from their ancestral lands and ethos.

The Nevada Lithium America mining project would suck more than 4 million gallons of fresh water per day, up to 3,250 gallons per minute). It would be extracted from an over-pumped aquifer in the driest state in the country. When ground water is over used, lakes, streams, and rivers dry up. Once the water of ancient reservoirs are mined they are gone forever.

Water is scarce……

Water is life………

Once the waste water contaminates the local groundwater with dangerous chemicals and heavy metals the effects lasts at least 300 years, if not more.

COBALT

One of the most heinous elements in EV production is cobalt. The worlds largest cobalt mines are in the Congo. They fail to benefit the people of the Congo, instead they displace the people and pollute their lands and waters. The worst however, is child labor, with ghastly unsafe conditions. Several Chinese companies operate cobalt extraction in the Congo. No one can deny cobalt mining in the Congo is modern day slavery. The most prevalent risk is in the local “home made” artisanal mines where working conditions are among the most abominable.

There are approximately 200,000 artisanal mines in the Congo. Despite being illegal, artisanal miners risk their lives for one or two dollars a day. They have no alternative. They have been displaced from their traditional villages which have been bulldozed to expand mining practices. Instead of children attending schools, mothers are forced to bring them to artisanal mines to work. Children as young as four years old sift through toxic waters for the fragments of cobalt. The horror of up to 20,000 people digging and climbing in mud pits, climbing upon one another and into deep holes with no protection. Large open-air pits and tunnels collapse and crush people, limbs, and spines as well as causing amputations and death. There are militias called “commandos” who kidnap children and force them to mine.

In 1960 Patrice Lubumbashi was the first democratically elected President in the Congo. He made a pledge that their country’s resources would benefit the people of the Congo. After only six (6) months he was assassinated and replaced with a dictator, who played the game to benefit the global North.

Millions of trees have been cut down, the waters contaminated and the dust from this process permeates the air. Cobalt is toxic to the touch and breath, yet children and mothers with babies strapped to their back are handling cobalt.

China made a deal with Democratic Republic of the Congo, (DRC) for access to the cobalt in exchange for development assistance, e.g. roads, health clinics, schools, and hospitals. The current President of DRC Felix Tshisekedu is in a battle to overhaul the minerals-forinfrastructure deal with China, is up for renegotiations. President Tshisekedu has said the deal made by his predecessor which gave China 68% of the Ming stake in exchange for infrastructure benefits China over the DRC. The DRC Presidential elections are in December 2023 and this restructure is a point of contention.

GRAPHITE

Graphite is the largest single component of EV batteries and typically include 50-100 kilograms, (119-220 pounds) of the mineral. Graphite makes up about two (2) percent of the battery cost. Chargers for the batteries also rely on graphite.

Graphite has the biggest future gap between supply and demand with a predicted shortfall of thirty, (30)%. Lithium is eleven, (11)%, nickel is twenty-six (26)%, and cobalt is six, (6)%.

There is simply not the resources to transition to EV only. The supplies do not cover the demands. It is not sustainable nor obtainable.

There is a man-made synthetic graphite, however the cost is double the price of the natural mined version and is created using fossil-fuel products and generates far more pollutants. Mining and refining graphite causes air and water pollution. Grinding graphite produces particulate air pollutants, traveling many miles and causing respiratory issues. The harsh chemicals, such as sodium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid are discharged from the plant into surrounding land and water.

Some of the gifts from graphite production are sparkling night air, damaged and ruined crops, polluted drinking water, heart attacks, nose and throat irritation, and lung damage. Not only is the water near these graphite plants undrinkable, but the emissions have kept local rivers from freezing in winter. The emissions have also poisoned and killed trees.

BTR, a Chinese corporation, is the world’s largest supplier of graphite. China accounts for sixty-eight, (68)% of global production and the residents cannot complain in fear of retribution. In the “City of Graphite”, the waters smell of chemicals, the food tastes and feels like you are chewing sand, dust is everywhere, the drinking water is cloudy. There are two, (2) methods for purifying graphite. One is using hydro fluid acid, a very toxic substance. The second is thru “baking”, which is better for the environment but about fifteen, (15) times more costly, therefore avoided.

Tesla refuses to disclose the origins of their graphite, however they have recently penned a new contract where beginning in 2025 they will buy the material from a processing plant called “Syrah Vidalia”, located in Vidalia, Louisiana. It is the first battery-graphite supplier in the U.S. Syrah Vidalia sources its graphite from a mine in Balama, Mozambique. This mine is an Australian securities exchange called “Syrah”.

NICKEL

Nickel is another metal necessary in the production of EV batteries. The International Energy Agency, (IEA) predicts the demand for nickel will grow by at least fifty-five, (55)% by 2030. The world’s largest nickel producer is Indonesia. The indigenous Bajau of Labengki Island in SW Sulawesi are being displaced and their way of life eliminated. About fifty, (50) nickel mining companies currently operate across the water from Labengki Island. Nickel waste from mining enters the water during rainy season and deposits it in the island waters. The Bajau are renowned free lance divers who’s livelihood depends on the waters. Their traditional way of life is being destroyed by nickel mining.

The previous lush green hills of the island have been replaced by deforested brown dead patches. Trees are cut down and open pits are excavated. With the trees gone the soil, is swept away when it rains. Since mining began, floods have increased from two, (2) a year to twenty-one, (21) a year in 2022.

Diesel and sodium cyanide used in mining end up in the sea. The coral reef is being suffocated. Illegal mining also exists everywhere in Indonesia. Nickel is the new gold.

HEAVY METAL - Deep Sea Mining

There are currently plans in motion to begin deep sea mining for EV metals. A study out of Japan has shown that this mining will slash ocean animal populations by fifty, (50)%. The International Seabed Authority, (ISA), is an intergovernmental body established by the UN in 1994 with headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica. There are already signs of corporate capture in this very dangerous industry. In the forefront is the Canadian-registered “The Metals Company”.

Deep sea mining for EV metals will negatively affect, fish, crab, shrimp, whales, sharks, octopus, snails, starfish, sea urchins, eels, corals and sponges, seals, seahorses, sea anemones, lobster, walrus, cuttlefish, and the human rights of Island peoples.

SAFETY

As of 2023 there have been 108,459 EV deaths. EVs are heavier, hence car crashes are more dangerous. The average weight of an EV is 6,000 whereas an average combustion vehicle weights 4,400. These numbers are rising and excessive in newer trucks. EV trucks are twenty to fifty, (20-50)% heavier than their combustion counterparts. When there are collisions involving EVs the consequences are much more damaging due to the excessive weight. There are a higher percentage of deaths in EV collisions than there are in gas powered vehicles.

The excess weight of EVs also plays a big role in the excess tire decompensation. EV tires wear out faster than tires on fossil fuel vehicles. EV tires wear out twenty to fifty, (20-50)% faster than tires on combustion engine vehicles. Tire emissions are eighteen hundred and fifty, (1,850) times worse than tailpipe pollution. As a car drives along its tires are releasing particulates that float through the air and leach into waterways, damaging human health and wildlife. Tire particles are more difficult to measure than tailpipe pollution. Tires contain hundreds of ingredients. These particles make their way into the soil and into the waterways and poison and kill. A specific chemical 6PPD-quinone, pronounced “qui-KNOWN” has been identified as a killer of salmon. It is a toxic chemical released from automotive tires. EVs have regenerative braking and higher torque than combustion engine vehicles, both these add to tire wear.

FIRE

EVs spontaneously combust. Even in a small collision there can be EV battery damage that may trigger a delayed short circuit and a battery fire, days after the collision. EV battery fires burn differently than combustion engine fires. The hazard of lithium-ion batteries is thermal “runaway”, a quick and unstoppable increase in temperature that leads to fires in EVs that are difficult to extinguish and can spontaneously reignite. It can take from four to five hours to extinguish an EV battery fire and it can reignite two or three days afterward.

There have been EV fires using up to 20,000 gallons of water to be extinguished. The water after putting out an EV fire is full of toxic material that will NEVER break down. Firefighters are stating it is best to let the fires burn themselves out. Firefighters are finding increasingly dangerous situations with EV fires. Dan Rinaldi, a Providence Rhode Island firefighter states that a burning EV in a parking garage is a nightmare scenario. New ways to extinguish EV fires are being considered to avoid using precious drinking water and poisoning the water table. A EV fire blanket is one such idea.

These combustible “nightmare” fires are not exclusive to the roads. EV batteries have blighted and ignited on ships and in residential areas. EV bicycles have also caught fire and burned down buildings.

The greatest difference we as humans can make is to preserve and restore natural ecosystems. Get outdoors and plant trees, protect legacy forests, protect wetlands. Nature knows.