- Dollar cost: The average price of an electric vehicle in the United States for August 2022 was $66,000. And EV subsides are funded by the average taxpayer so that the rich can buy their EVs at subsidized prices.
- Environmental cost: EV batteries use lithium-ion, nickel-metal oxide, and nickel-cadmium. These minerals come from mines located in third world countries. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just one battery. Strip mining, done in poor countries with little or no environmental regulations. Do the missing trees get replanted to replace the scars on the earth? These minerals are then transported from the mines to manufacturing facilities on trucks, trains, and ships, all burning fossil fuels.
- Human cost: Who works in these mines? It is not well-paid union workers. Most of the world’s cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they use forced labor and child labor, causing sickness and death from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?
Sourcing, transportation, manufacture, use, and disposal of EV batteries – all systems of input, transport, conversion, storage, and output. Understanding this big picture vs the reductionist thinking of only parts, is important to responsibly achieve our goal of a cleaner environment. Someday electric vehicles may be the answer. But today, there are still many questions.
The electric vehicles, the batteries, the environment, the earth itself, are all systems. Learn more about system science, and help us save the world, at Join Dr.SHIVA™ Truth Freedom Health® – Truth Freedom Health®
