Are EVs as Clean as Claimed?

Are EVs as Clean as Claimed?


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Are EVs as Clean as Claimed?

I may have mentioned it before, but I do a lot of reading around the internet to try find material for this blog. One of the subjects that is obviously of interest to the blog is electric vehicles, usually the technology behind them and the infrastructure supporting them. It is generally accepted that EVs are a very good thing. They replace fossil fuel burning vehicles and many governments around the world are basing their own commitments to reducing carbon emissions on the widespread adoption of EVs. What is not to like about them? The main criticisms you do come across are Facebook postings, full of obvious lies and cherry-picked data. There seems to be a real campaign using this type of content at the moment, possibly in response to the vehicle provisions in the CHIP Act signed by President Biden recently. However, one article I did come across this week brought up some criticisms of technology in the automotive industry that seemed quite valid.

The article was on the tech site Gizmodo, and it contained an interview with Paris Marx, author of “Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation”, and the host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast. Although the majority of the story is on how other technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, and apps like ride sharing, have not had the impact that was initially forecast, and in some cases have had detrimental effects on our lives, there are a couple of occasions when Marx talks about electric vehicles. Asked about misconceptions of EVs, Marx said, “I do think that environmental benefit does tend to be overstated, and we act as though it’s a silver bullet to zero emissions. There are a lot of issues with the electric vehicle that often get left out of the narrative. Electric vehicles still have global air pollution because a lot of the particulate matter comes from tire wear, brake wear, and taking up dust that’s already on the road. The electric vehicle can actually make it worse because they tend to be heavier. Further, if the vehicle is not powered by renewables, there will be energy burn and emissions that power the vehicle. Those emissions are not coming from the vehicle itself, but where the power plant is located, and that’s usually near lower income communities. Finally, I think that the biggest issue is the supply chain. There’s a huge mining footprint for Lithium batteries, which tend to be large, as the focus is on long range. Finding those minerals is not only going to cause a significant increase in mining and resource extraction, but also will have consequences for the communities that are around mines.”

I think Marx brings up some good points, especially as I’ve read recently about environmental figures concerning Lithium vastly underestimating the effect on the water supply. There is also good news as scientists are working on greener ways to extract lithium from brine, using less water and energy. The full article is definitely worth a read. As for me, I’ll probably order the book, as the whole pretext sounds interesting to me. Hopefully I will get a chance to do a review here at some point.

https://gizmodo.com/silicon-valleys-transportation-failures-tesla-waymo-bir-1849382788