Today’s entry: Where do the materials for electric car batteries come from? Most of the cobalt used in batteries today is claimed by China from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where extraction has come with human rights abuses and environmental degradation.
Bottom Line: EVs are slowly but surely gaining traction. States like California are crafting policies to mandate the sale of them in the future. But increasingly, what’s also coming into focus is a) how environmentally friendly are they in reality, and b) due to the amount of mined minerals which are necessary to operate the current incarnations, are they really sustainable? This is a topic I first covered last November in evaluating net energy and carbon savings with EVs. Let’s start there.
A study by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute found the 2018 model year vehicles saved the average user $632 in energy consumption annually. Additionally, they found there was additional environmental benefit due lower maintenance in EV’s due to fewer moving parts, having no exhaust system, less demand on vehicle cooling systems, not needing to change oil, fan belts, air filters, timing belts, head gaskets, cylinder heads and spark plugs. In the study, the researchers found net benefit in every state with the use of EV’s for the first time. The comprehensive study which was reviewed by Harvard scientist James Anderson led to his conclusion that: Electric cars are vastly better than internal combustion devices. But still, when we’re talking about environmental impact specifically, the truest measure of impact is carbon footprint.
A recent study from MIT entitled, Mobility Of The Future – Examining future changes in personal mobility produced an answer based on current EV technology. In their study they illustrated the environmental benefit of electric vehicles is somewhat mitigated due to higher output that’s required to produce EV’s - most specifically the batteries used in the vehicles, but that use of the vehicles is far more efficient compared to their gas-powered counterparts. Here are the two most relevant numbers.
- Carbon output per mile for the average EV: 200 grams
- Carbon output per mile for the average internal combustion vehicle: 275 grams
So, the net-net of it is that the average electric vehicle currently available will produce 27% less carbon over the life of the vehicle. Meaningful from an environmental perspective, yes. Lower than many who’re among the strongest advocates for EVs Probably. Now, like all technologies, efficiencies will continue to be realized. The average fuel efficiency for gas-powered vehicles today is 25 mpg. That’s more than double the 12-mpg averaged in 1975. In the MIT study, they project that based on current trends, carbon output from EV’s will eventually drop by another 75% from today’s levels. The real takeaway here is that a meaningfully positive environmental impact from EVs, even by way of measuring carbon, is in reality more about the prospects of future vehicles becoming more efficient than the current models. But of course, none of that factors in the impact of the mining required for these vehicles. So, about that...
All existing EVs need a minimum of three mined minerals:
- Cobalt
- Lithium
- Nickel
To the point of your question, Cobalt, isn’t meaningfully mined within the United States and indeed, Congo is the top producer – producing more than the rest of the world combined. They’re followed by Russia. And your point, Congo’s cobalt is mined by China which claims 80% of the proceeds. So effectively, it’s currently impossible to scale EVs without being completely reliant on China to do so. And that’s just the cobalt. As for the needed lithium. Chile is the world’s largest producer, followed by Australia, Argentina and China. The US accounts for just 1% of the world’s lithium supply, or once again not enough to scale EVs. But hey, at least the trading partners include options outside of China and Russia. And last but not least we have nickel production. Indonesia is the top producer with the Philippines second and Russia third. The US accounts for only about 1% of the world’s nickel production as well. Once again, not enough to scale the industry.
In fact, get this, according to the US Geological Survey, if just the US were to completely convert to EVs, it would require more mined minerals than last year’s total worldwide production. The fact of the matter is this. The greater the adaptation of EVs, the greater the reliance on China that's required. Secondarily, if the country were to attempt to do, what California has mandated must eventually be done, we literally couldn’t do it. It’s not possible based on current production levels of minerals and the demand for these resources for other purposes as well. The bottom line is that significantly lower levels of mined minerals are needed for future EVs for them to be viable options for the masses longer term.
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Gettr, Parler & Twitter: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.