But people are fleeing urban areas in droves because Dems have made them unlivable high crime hell holes. So the raison d'être of cleaning urban air is largely gone. Besides, ICE engines are extremely clean these days, nothing like what we drove 30 years ago.
People argue that EVs will prevent global warming. That is a preposterous argument when you look at the thousands of coal plants being built and coming on line around the world, especially in China and India.
As you wrote, EVs are very dirty when you consider the power sources and batteries. Ron Stein wrote an excellent article on this topic last month:
Is it ethical to purchase a lithium battery powered EV?Then there is the looming shortage of plain old copper...a typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds. It contains 25 pounds of lithium, 60 pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminium, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells.
It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just one battery.
...to say an EV is a zero-emission vehicle is not at all valid as 80 percent of the electricity generated to charge the batteries is from coal, natural gas, and nuclear.
- Since twenty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S is from coal-fired plants, it follows that twenty percent of the EVs on the road are coal-powered.
- Since forty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S is from natural gas, it follows that forty percent of the EVs on the road are natural gas-powered.
- Since twenty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S is from nuclear, it follows that twenty percent of the EVs on the road are nuclear-powered.
A Copper Shortage Is Likely Coming for the Energy Transition, by Lauren Leffer, July 15, 2022, Gizmodo.It takes twelve years to open a new copper mine.By 2035, the global demand for copper is projected to nearly double, according to a new S&P Global report released Wednesday. In the worst-case scenario, based on our current production trends, the report projects a shortfall of 9.9 million metric tons of copper in 2035.
...the amount of copper that will be in demand over the next 30 years will be more than all the copper we used in the world since 1900. That’s a lot of metal.
An International Energy Agency report in early 2021 found that
"...keeping pace with that 2050 goal could increase demand for critical minerals overall by as much as six-fold by 2040. And for some minerals, the gap between current supply and projected future demand is even larger. Demand for graphite, for instance, is expected to grow by 25 times in under two decades, while demand for lithium is projected to grow by 70 times.This reminds me so much of central Soviet planners and how they screwed everything up. "Going Green" is going to be devastatingly bad for earth, is going to consume far more resources than ICE engine powered cars did, will be worse for the environment, will abuse child laborers in many countries, will move mining pollution to countries with little regard for the environment, will require the USA to send lots of money to our enemies for their minerals, and will cost consumers a lot more money. Other than that, what is there not to like?Quickening the deployment of renewable energy will also be a huge factor. For instance, each offshore wind plant requires 13 times more mineral resources than a similarly sized natural gas power plant. And growth in low-carbon power generation overall is estimated to triple mineral demand by 2040.
Washington State has already banned the sale of conventional ICE autos starting in 2030. Enjoy the "transition," folks!
BTTT!!!
Exactly so! Thanks for elaborating!