Ask the average casual green advocate what it takes to make an electric car “go” and most will answer with: “Batteries.” An accurate, simple, and woefully incomplete response.
Yes, electric cars run on batteries. They are powered by raw materials. These materials, Pete Buttigieg claims are an alternative to oil, are mined every year in millions of tons. These elements can be melted and refined to become the engine of an electric vehicle (EV). Some of these elements are abundant. Although some are very rare, they are all mined. Name any element that is found in an electrical car battery. This element is the by-product of a stripmine.
Let’s take lithium, for example. America is home to abundant amounts of lithium. For example, there’s a vast reserve in Nevada at Thatcher Pass, located close to the Oregon border. Locals and Native Americans don’t want it mined. The environment is being degraded by strip mining, and this site specifically. Who’s developing the next lithium mine at Thatcher Pass “Lithium Americas.” Lithium Americas is majority-owned by China’s Ganfeng Lithium Company – which is the world’s biggest strip miner of lithium.
Even though there are environmental regulations in place, Nevada’s mine will still extract one element from the earth to make EVs.
In other parts of the world, elements needed for EV batteries are strip-mined, with human costs that your average “greenie” doesn’t want to think about. The Congo is home to almost all the cobalt known. Congo is home to many human rights and child labor abuses. Tesla claims that Tesla has begun to phase out cobalt from its batteries. This is not the case with domestic EV makers.
The cost of element mining is another problem, apart from strip mining. Nickel, another important metal for EV batteries, can be affected by market trends and manipulations. A metric ton costing $100,000 rose by about 100 percent on Tuesday. The London Metal Exchange has stopped trading nickel. This would result in a 6 percent rise in the price of an electric vehicle. That’s just one day of trading.
While the manufacturing process has been improved in some ways, it is not easy to maintain EVs. There were many EV advertisements on the Super Bowl. But last year, GM had to recall its “Tesla slayer,” the Bolt, because the batteries were burning their Bolts down. Bolt owners who have been charging them might discover the Fire Department hidden in their garages. Every Bolt sold by GM needed to be recalled.
How do you dispose of EV batteries after their useful life ends? “Experts” envision a recycling process by which used EV batteries are completely recycled. Sounds nice but we aren’t there. Not even close. At the moment, the costs of doing this are higher than the actual cost of removing elements from the ground. Where is the most “efficient” EV battery recycler located? China.
Despite the fact that Secretary of Transportation loves to speak in platitudes and envisions EVs replacing all vehicles on the road — that’s an unattainable myth. Biden’s National Economic Council Director, Brian Deese, went further, claiming that zero-emissions was the “ultimate goal.” “Eliminating” fossil fuel is no more realistic than a flying DeLorean. It’s patently absurd. Biden’s “Zero Emissions” goal is a fantasy.
Brian Deese is the economic advisor to Biden: The only way to achieve energy independence is to decrease fossil fuel consumption to “zero”. pic.twitter.com/49q1Nav5hC
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 8, 2022
Trucks transport our products to the market using tractors with diesel engines. Trains run on diesel, too. We’re not going to replace them with electric vehicles. Diesel is the only fuel used for mining elements. The fossil fuels required to melt these elements usually require diesel. Ships don’t run on magic dust. Batteries are not safe for passenger planes. Engines that consume diesel or gasoline are used to power farm equipment. Oil and gas are the main fuels of today’s commercial markets.
For the consumer, most Americans don’t have the income to replace their gas-powered car with a $140,000 EV with a 300-mile range. Wealthy celebrities are fond of mouthing modern-day “Let them eat cake” lectures. The reality is that they enjoy berating the average middle-class American about not getting on board the EV train. They are not like that Steven Colbert, most Americans can’t afford a Tesla. With Biden and his crack team of clowns, now Americans can’t even afford to put gas in their cars.
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