The Dark Side of Green Tech and EVs
EVs have been praised in the last few years for being the savior of transportation. Sure, they have fewer emissions when driving than a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle. By now, we’re probably all familiar with nuance (at least, I hope so) and we can understand that just because something is eco-friendly to USE doesn’t mean it’s necessarily eco-friendly to CREATE.
Listen, I’m not anti-EV. I think we just need to create them more responsibly with better mining practices, using recycled and recyclable materials, and creating charging stations that use green energy. They are sure a step in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go.
So, let’s dive into it today. Are EVs really that great? Are they harming the environment too much to create? And we will also talk about a very important topic that I’m sure many of us have not thought of when it comes to EVs and tech in general: the impact on human lives.
Image from Squarespace
Creating an EV
EVs are mostly made from aluminum, magnesium, and plastic. At least, the body of the car is. And they’re most likely using new materials, not recycled. Meaning the mining of all of these metals and minerals and the extraction of oil to make plastic is quite harmful to the planet.
But keep in mind, regular cars have extremely similar body makeup. Gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles also need aluminum, magnesium, and plastic among other materials to be created. And you don’t see these types of manufacturers using recycled materials.
I’m not trying to make the argument that “they’re doing it bad so it’s fine if EVs do it bad, too.” I hate when people do that. But what I am saying is looking at this part of the vehicle from an environmental standpoint and using this as a key argument against EVs is just irresponsible.
It would be great to see ALL car manufacturers do better when it comes to responsible mining and using other eco-friendly materials to build new cars. Until we see that, this really isn’t an argument against EVs when it’s equal across the board.
Image from Squarespace
Creating the EV battery (and other tech)
Alright, the elephant in the room. This part of an EV truly is NOT good for the environment. From the harmful extraction of minerals to the huge amounts of energy it takes to create a battery, this part of an EVs creation is NOT good for the planet.
That being said, looking at this chart from the EPA, factoring in the total lifecycle of an EV versus a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle, an EV still wins after all of this harm it creates making the battery.
While the EV still wins in terms of eco-friendliness, we need to talk about another major topic: EVs come at the cost of human lives. That’s not even hyperbole. It’s true.
The culprit is cobalt. Cobalt is necessary (for now) to create EV batteries among other batteries in other tech like phones and laptops. The leading producer of cobalt (and coltan and other precious metals) is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, indigenously known as Goma. They produce around 70% of the world’s cobalt.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) report notes that a typical EV battery needs 8 kilograms (18 pounds) of lithium, 35 kilograms of manganese, and 6-12 kilograms of cobalt. PER BATTERY! But of course, cobalt is used in SO much of our tech. And with the demand for countries to go green, it’s expected that the demand for cobalt will increase 4x in the next 5 years.
Image from Squarespace
Among cobalt, copper, and uranium (a known carcinogen) are also found in these Congolese mines. Around 30% of the mines in Congo are known as artisanal mines. These are the mines that are unregulated where folks work for little pay in harsh conditions. They don’t get PPE, there are frequent cave-ins, they literally dig by hand, and they often have to start working as young as 10 to help make their family enough money. On top of all of this, these toxic mines are right in their communities so they can’t even escape the harm and pollution after hours.
In fact, it’s so common that if cobalt is found near a house or in a town, the entire town will be wiped off the map, the people are displaced, in order for the mining companies to make a quick buck. If they are allowed to stay and live there, they are subject to the pollution right in their back yard…literally.
The main health concern with living this close to the mines and working without PPE is the cobalt and uranium dust, which we just learned causes cancer.
Image from Squarespace
If you want to learn more in full, I highly recommend checking out “Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers our Lives” by Siddharth Kara. It goes heavily in-depth into this topic and how our addiction to buying new piece of tech after new piece of tech is killing people. No, I won’t sugar-coat it.
Also, please check out these amazing activists and organizations on the ground to get educated and a place to donate money if you have the ability to do so:
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Charging EVs
This is the most common argument I see from hard right folks and it’s valid: EVs are being charged with fossil fuels anyway. Not all the time! It would be amazing to see Tesla and other brand’s charging stations have wind or solar energy powering them versus oil and coal. I’m sure that’s on the horizon for a lot of these brands.
But even then, is charging an EV with oil or coal better or worse than driving a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle?
The Union of Concerned Scientists found that for the majority of EVs in the US, charging an EV is the equivalent to driving a gas car that gets 50-mpg. So yes, it still pollutes, but considering that the average MPGs for cars in the US is only around 25 MPG, charging an EV is without a doubt better for the planet, even if it’s charged with fossil fuels.
Of course, this is in areas of the country without green energy available. On the coasts where green energy is plentiful, charging an EV with green energy is equivalent to driving a gas car with over 100 MPG!
Still unsure about green energy? Let’s bust some green energy myths in this video.
A great point from Forbes is that even if an EV isn’t charged using clean energy today, it will continuously get cleaner as more and more green energy is available and the technology gets better. But, a gas car will always burn dirty. Even if we increase MPGs, it just doesn’t compare.
Are EVs the future?
I’m no expert in energy or transportation. But, I do think that EVs have their place especially because we WILL run out of oil one day. Maybe not now, maybe not even in 100 years, but we’re using it so much faster than it can replenish. I think it’s a good idea for the environment and for our own needs to switch to electric…but not at this cost.
We NEED to find ways to use recycled materials in our tech. We NEED to design tech with recyclability in mind. Too many companies (Apple being the main culprit) design their products to be thrown away at the end of their lives. Maybe recycled, but rarely do they design for repairability either. How else is a company supposed to make a profit if their products are easily repaired, built to last, and easily recyclable?
This is where governments should step in and mandate things like repairability and recyclability.
Just like everything with climate change, there is not one single answer. We need EVs AND public transportation AND bikeable and walkable communities. We need better recycling systems AND better systems for reusing and repairing. We need so many solutions.
I think EVs are A solution, not THE solution. I think they have their place, but we need to be much more mindful about using them and making them.
The best thing you can do in terms of supporting green tech without benefiting from the enslavement of the people of Goma, you can buy secondhand and refurbished tech. Get your next iPhone on Backmarket instead of from Apple. Get your EV used instead of new.
You can still enjoy your tech and join the EV club without compromising your morals and without contributing to human demise in other parts of the planet.
What do you think? Are EVs still just as good as you thought? Are they worse than you thought? Are they they solution to climate change in terms of transportation?
Here are some more discussions about transportation and the environment:
How to avoid supporting Big Oil even if you still drive a car
This is why we don’t have good public transportation in the US (conspiracy)
Thank you so much for reading along. I appreciate your time and your willingness to learn about this hard topic. It matters SO much where you spend your money. When in doubt, shop secondhand.
Just being a mindful consumer matters. As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)
Emma
