After reading Bengt Karlsson’s article in EfterBO Stories, I now fully understand what irreparable damage the production of batteries for electric cars causes to both nature, and people and especially children.”
A car battery for the electric car weighs about 500 kg, the volume is the size of a suitcase. It contains 12 kg lithium, 30 kg nickel, 20 kg manganese, 15 kg cobalt, 100 kg copper, 200 kg aluminum (production is extremely electrically closed), steel and plastic. There are 6,831 lithium cells inside.
It should be worrying that all these toxic components come from mining. To make a car battery, you need to process 10 tons of salt to produce lithium, 15 tons of ore for cobalt, 2 tons of ore for nickel and 12 tons of ore copper. In total, 200 tonnes of soil are dug up for a single battery.
Disease and child labor are behind 68% of the world’s cobalt, and a significant portion of a battery comes from Congo. Their mines have no pollution control and they employ children who die dealing with this toxic material. Should we count all these sick children as part of the expenses of an electric car?
How can anyone in good conscience claim that this is better for the environment than fossil-powered cars? Has anyone even counted on an electric car vs a fossil driven car? It should be almost childishly easy to make an almost correct assessment.Some research/evaluation we never get to see.
The electric car is as good as the giant flop wind force, irresistible. Not as a function, but as a political bat. It works because lack of investigation results in politics always wins. Not because you’re right, but because it’s opportunistic and it fits the narrative.
