EV Vehicles Series Part #1
Photo by Michael Fousert on Unsplash
Humans have polluted the air we breathe and now they aim to pollute the ground we walk on and live through. Car brands like Tesla, Ford, Chevy, Hyundai, and Volkswagen are all avoiding the real truth when they say that electric cars are the future. For years electric cars have been branded as the “environmentally safe alternative” to gas-powered engines today because their side effects are unknown. When does the ground get so polluted by batteries that we don’t know what is worse, the air we breathe or the ground we walk on?
In this section, we are going to dive a little deeper into electric vehicles and their batteries. It will be a multiple-article series that will come out as I finish writing them. But before we get to those let's look very lightly into what makes electric vehicles harmful to the environment and what makes them good.
Lithium Mining
Before batteries are even out into the car they have to come from somewhere. That is the first hiccup in the harmful effects of EV vehicles. If we compare this to gas and gas production we are still pulling stuff out of the ground and the earth so it cannot be eco-friendly. It is too similar to mining coal or oil for gas to be more efficient or eco-friendly.
Disposal of Batteries
Once the batteries run out of life they need to go somewhere. Though batteries can be recycled, currently only 5% of the world's batteries get recycled which means too many are being wrongly disposed of and thrown away. When batteries are disposed of if not done properly then they seep chemicals into the topsoil where they are placed. This is how they pollute the ground and damage the environment we need to grow food.
Charging
The most ironic picture I have ever seen regarding EV vehicles is when a Tesla was being charged from a diesel generator. Now why is this so ironic? There may not be fumes directly coming from the electric vehicles but the electricity that is powering these cars has to come from somewhere. Can we call them environmentally friendly cars if they are getting their electricity from coal or diesel power sources?
EV Component Supply Chain
When we look at all the different parts that need to be put into a vehicle, where do the resources come from, how are they made and how efficient and eco-friendly is all of this? To call something fully eco-friendly we have to dig down to the bones and in this case, these are the real bones of the car. If this isn’t efficient and eco-friendly it drags everything down with it.
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