Quote:
Originally Posted by Itchytoe
Not only does the data show that EVs have a significantly higher carbon footprint when being built, but carbon isn't the limit of environmental impact caused by EVs. Cobalt mining, for example, is extremely dangerous and horrible for the environment. The runoff and waste water from those mines often has toxic levels of various substances including sulfides. About 2/3 of all the cobalt in the world is mined in the Congo, often by children. Look at Kolwezi or Manyama on Google maps. You can see the environmental impact for yourself. The Congo is lush green forests, except for the mines. Those mines are ugly and barren.
We also have the problem of a limited supply of cobalt. Like I said earlier in this thread, you can't just go to Costco and get all the batteries you want. Panasonic, who supplies Elon with Tesla batteries, can't get enough cobalt to make the batteries on a big enough scale. The only way to fix that problem is to have a completely different type of battery. Sadly, no such battery exists, and you can't just modify a LiPo to not have cobalt. They'll have 1/3 the lifespan and be very prone to overheating. Remember the phones with exploding LiPo batteries? That's what will happen Teslas if you just don't use cobalt in a LiPo battery.
But yes, over the average lifespan of an EV vs an ICE vehicle, the EV has a smaller carbon footprint. It's got an exponentially bigger footprint in other areas, but yea carbon is smaller. When you look at the whole picture, EVs aren't nearly as environmentally friendly as their advocates claim.
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Nope.
Most cobalt is responsibly mined.
Tesla doesn’t source cobalt from Congo.
The refining of gasoline is one of the biggest users of cobalt.
The next generation of batteries uses very little cobalt.
Portable devices presently use more battery’s than vehicles.
Cobalt is usually mined as a bi-product of other mining operations. Usually copper and nickel.
The environmental impact of mining minerals is small compared to the devastation left behind from coal mining and petroleum and gas extraction.