Don’t get me wrong. I know the vehicle itself will have way lower emissions and than a regular gas or diesel vehicle, but what I’m confused on is that they will have to mine to get the raw materials to make these batteries and then once the battery is done it’s lifespan they will need to find a way to dispose or recycle these batteries. Imagine doing that capacity when the whole world has transitioned to EV.
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There are a lot of good points others have said. I’m conducting PhD research on vehicle hybridification and electrification.
One of the big factors is decoupling the vehicle from the energy source. If you have an internal combustion engine you rely on fuel and an entire supply chain to get the fuel to you which also consumes energy (think pipelines, ships, trains, tractor trailers, etc.). If you switch to bio fuel the supply chain will be slow to adapt.
This is true for EVs too but the main point is that every place in the developed has electricity and it can come from any source… coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, nuclear… it makes no difference to the car.
So with batteries from a decade ago being charged by coal aren’t necessarily better than a normal car. However, gradually transitioning to EV as we make easier/cleaner/greener batteries and more energy from hydro/wind/nuclear/solar is the goal.
I tell people, imagine if car batteries could be easily recycled by your own municipality and were charged by power harvested down the street or by your house.
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