Posted on 10/02/2020 8:17:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Electric vehicles are coming from Volkswagen. Hate to disappoint, but if you love the environment, this is a step backward.
Recently, an amendment to a green energy bill in the House was defeated. It would have required the secretary of commerce to certify that federally funded buses and charging stations do not contain minerals mined or processed by children. The Democrat majority said such an amendment was not necessary since the U.S. already has trade agreements prohibiting child labor. Ah, but not with the Congo or Zimbabwe. Clever.
Why is this important? The U.S. has produced zero cobalt in the past 40 years. Without cobalt, there would be no electric car batteries, and half of the world's supply of cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where some 40,000 kiddies dig for cobalt by hand. Here's a CBS News article on it, and here's another from ABC News Australia. They toil under appalling conditions for 12 hours per day, earning something between $1 and $2 per day. Is that a living wage, even in the Congo?
And where does the lithium for car batteries come from? Mostly the high deserts of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, which hold 75% of the world's lithium deposits. Water is pumped underground, where it dissolves the lithium, then pumped to the surface to evaporate so the salts can be scooped up. Here's a brief overview.
It takes 500,000 gallons of water to extract one ton of lithium. A Tesla Model S contains nearly 140 lb of lithium. Who would otherwise use the water evaporated for lithium extraction? Subsistence farmers, mostly indigenous people. Who cares? Their sacrifice allows richer, older American males to do their bit to save the planet. Demographics of Tesla-owners can be found here.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
So where are rare earths mined and refined? There is a single rare earth mine in the U.S., in eastern California. It is now owned by the Chinese, and its ore is refined in China.
In fact, rare earths overwhelmingly come from China, which has the most global reserves of rare earth elements (42 percent) and produces around 89 percent of global output. So that takes care of the problem of disposing of the waste!
But don’t worry — those activities take place in Inner Mongolia and Tibet, so it’s not a problem, right?
“It’s the thought that counts!”
Actually it’s the “Greener than thou” self righteousness that counts with environmentalists.
Not to mention EVERY component required. Sort of like the major enviro minded trek clothes companies and their high tech synthetic winter wear.
This is exactly why wind and solar, as presently available, are nearly at the end of their rope.
Everyone agrees they are highly unstable power sources. The only option to increase them much more than 15% on a grid is with battery storage. But the batteries needed for even a tiny amount of “renewables” electricity storage would be HUGE - far beyond present manufacturing capacity, with absolutely NO consideration of the cost, energy-input to make them or availability or environmental impact of raw materials.
I’m convinced the world is going back to nuclear. Politics and minds need to change, and it could take a decade or two - but the world is going to be shocked into it.
Made from pixie dust by magic fairies !
And where is the electricity to charge them going to come from? California apparently can’t keep the lights on now as it is. Coal, oil, natural gas is out, Hydro power is out—gotta save the salmon, Nuclear is right out. Solar doesn’t work at night or cloudy days and wind power isn’t reliable either.
“Their sacrifice allows richer, older American males to do their bit to save the planet.”
Makes me think of the phrase from the sixties, “If it feels good, do it” (never mind the consequences).
The left has used “science” to conclude that electricity grows on trees.
Neanderthals had more brains than the modern virtue signaling leftists.
I’ve always been a gadget freak.
I don’t buy into the global warming nonsense. I don’t really
worry about ICE vehicles and their impact on the environment.
I would love to own that VW Bus.
Groovy...
LMAO
Also, my state, KY should put a bumper sticker on all electric cars that says, “Powered by Coal”.
Toyota is moving its Sienna van to the Hybrid powertrain in 2021. They should have included a charging plug but didn’t. We bought our third Sienna recently before the changeover - wanted another of those almost 300hp V6 engines. 6.9 seconds to reach 60 MPH from a standstill while it is able to run a quarter-mile in 15.3 seconds. Not bad for a minivan that can seat eight sometimes frightened passengers. :)
I wouldn’t mind owning an electric vehicle...not because it is green..it is less green than an efficient internal combustion vehicle....but for shorter runs in a local area an ev could be handy...I like the Bollinger electric suv...
Almost every minivan I encounter is always the slowest thing on the road.
Usually never a turn signal either.
AOC’s “Green Raw Deal” is touted as creating thousands of new jobs in green energy. Apparently she means children in third world countries.
The newer Toyota comes with lane-assist. If you don't use the turn-signal, you get an annoying beep, beep, beep.
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