Comment by Sohcahtoa82
17 hours ago
The carbon footprint of producing an EV is higher than an ICE. Nobody disputes that.
But the lower carbon footprint of operating the an EV makes the EV have a lower footprint over the life of the vehicle. This is true even if your electricity comes purely from coal, as a coal power plant gets an economy of scale that an ICE doesn't achieve. If your power comes from a renewable source, then the trade-off happens even sooner.
the problem is where these lithiums are sourced from and that raises the costs of human rights
Questioning the lithium source is valid, but also a red herring when we're talking about environmental impact.
But yes, battery minerals can involve human rights abuses. But ICE vehicles are also built from steel, aluminum, copper, rubber, electronics, and metals that can involve forced labor, unsafe mining, land displacement, pollution, or exploitative labor. The ethical issue is supply chain due diligence across the whole auto industry, not just lithium.
Funny how some people (Mostly anti-EV folks) only discover supply chain ethics only when the car has a battery.
what car company is using forced labor as you are claiming that is pretty serious, almost all except China, are built in countries with strong labor unions.
what I really hate is that EVs have given people a false sense of superiority that seemingly stems from their curious unwillingness to look at the ugly environmental and human rights abuses around the lithium sourcing.
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