The inconvenient truth about electric cars
“Electric cars aren’t pollution-free; they have to get their energy from somewhere.” – Alexandra Paul
You’d have to have been asleep in a cocoon for the last decade to escape the doom and gloom heaped upon our energy dependent society by climateers and green energy advocates. The jury is in and then the jury is out on what alternative source of energy will save us from a fossil fuel meltdown. A smart earth planner will say, “all of the above,” while a true greenie will ban everything that’s not green.
The green hysteria is electric cars. Greenies continue to tell us green cars are the answer to global warming. Here is the inconvenient truth. While electric cars produce less emissions then Detroit’s mega monsters of yesteryear, they are not as environmentally friendly as their makers proclaim.
Makers assert that EVs will reduce oil consumption by 5 million barrels of oil a day by 2030. But global demand for oil is still expected to increase 8% by 2030, according to Energy Reach. That is why there is a growing concern over the mining of minerals like lithium and cobalt from mines in developing countries where the mining is polluting and damaging their local biodiversity.
The violent rush to extract cobalt is unleashing a new cycle of misery and foreign domination in the world’s poorest nations. Massive industrial operations, mostly Chinese-owned, have moved into the Congo, intent on dominating the next energy epoch. These big mines are poisoning the water and harming local mine workers while exploiting the Congo’s resources with no regard for local laws.
While electric vehicles reduce carbon dioxide, only if the electricity powering them does not come from fossil fuels, the full impact of EVs on the health of the planet must be assessed. Just consider the impact EVs have on infrastructure, biodiversity, our total health and our complete ecosystem.
“Analysis that we are going to save the planet with electric cars is nonsense.” – Sergio Marchionne
While EVs may not emit carbon dioxide, the power sources that charge their batteries do. EVs are charged using power generated by fossil fuels. According to the Energy Research Institute, the 98 charging bays in the nation’s largest Tesla charging station are powered by diesel generators.
“If something’s important enough, you should try. Even if the probable outcome is failure.” – Elon Musk
About 90% of average gasoline-powered vehicle batteries are recycled, but only 5% of EV lithium-ion batteries are recycled. And while oil is exclusively mined from underground in specific areas, the components for lithium-ion batteries are obtained through open pit mining. This ruins wide areas of the natural environment. Plus, the process of lithium mining uses toxic chemicals.
According to a Consumer Reports study, EVs have nearly 40% more problems than gas cars and are less reliable. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles have the worst scorecard, with an average of over 150% more problems. Ordinary hybrid cars have about 50% less problems than all others.
The hybrids have improved, narrowing a wide gap with gas-powered automobiles. But vehicles with internal combustion engines and gas-electric hybrids are still far more dependable. The owners reported that electric vehicles had 42% more problems than gas autos on average. The survey measured reliability of vehicles mainly from the 2022, 2023 and 2024 model years. Electric cars also cost as much as $2,000 more than their almost identical gasoline powered counterparts.
Swapping fossil-powered cars for EVs is a win for cutting CO2 emissions, but it may exacerbate particulate pollution from wear and tear on tires. Tires shed tiny particles with every rotation. Tire wear happens most dramatically during rapid acceleration, braking and sharp turns. But even with the most conservative driving, particulate pollution is an unavoidable consequence of car use. And it’s a problem that’s poised to get worse as drivers transition from gas to electric powered cars.
Smaller bits of tire particulate linger in the air, where they can be inhaled, and the smallest of this particulate matter, known as PM2.5, can directly enter the bloodstream. A 2017 study estimated tire wear is responsible for 10% of microplastic pollution. which is also bad for large bodies of water.
Nick Mlden, founder and CEO of Emissions Analytics, a London-based company that performs independent tests on cars’ real-world tailpipe and tire emissions, said, “The heavier the car the more stress it puts on the tires. As people switch to EVs, it will vastly increase tire emissions.”
In April of this year, a New York City parking garage collapsed, killing one person. Investigators initially suspected that poor maintenance was at play, but the blame soon turned to the real culprit: the weight of the vehicles parked in the garage. This opened up a can of worms for the EV gang.
American roads are not ready for massive electric vehicles. One major concern is the enormous weight of EVs and the impact that these increasingly large vehicles have on the country’s roads, bridges, and its guardrails. EVs exacerbate this problem due to the massive batteries they require. For example, an electric Ford F-150 weighs at least 1,000 pounds more than the standard F-150.
According to the Department of Transportation, the damage a vehicle can inflict on roads and infrastructure increases with weight. A 2,000-pound increase in axle weight can cause 50% more damage to pavement. EVs also produce 20% to 50% more impact energy than gas-powered cars.
Since EVs consume less fuel, states are getting less revenue at the pump and are raising the fuel tax for all drivers, which is unfair since EVs don’t pay their fair share at the pump. They are also raising registration costs and special assessments for EVs. The federal government is considering increasing the tax on drivers to pay for our interstate highway system and replace lost revenue.
Scientists say the rush to embrace EVs runs the risk of trying to find a silver-bullet solution to one planetary crisis, global warming. But we are violating other important boundaries, like biosphere integrity, land system change, including air, fresh and ocean water pollution as well.
Vehicle ownership, whether electric or gas-powered, is a personal choice that should take many factors into consideration. People who are buying EVs to save the planet from self destruction are doing nothing more than trading the costs of energy from one source to another. And with a limited amount of cobalt and lithium-ion available to mine, what will EVs use when these minerals run out.
EVs are an impressive status symbol for greenies but they are not going to save the planet.
Let’s face the music. The surge in EV sales are mostly a status symbol for those on the left coast.
“We have a tremendous investment in facilities for internal combustion engines and axels, and I can’t see throwing them away just because the electric car doesn’t emit fumes.” – Henry Ford II
