Abstract

‘Green’ energy is not ‘green’ but destructive of Gaia and nature.  The destruction takes many forms but includes massive and devastating mining, the destruction of ecology and ecosystems, the slaughtering of fauna including birds and fowl, and the exhaustion of non-renewable minerals and materials.  EV’s, wind turbines and solar panels are completely dependent upon hydrocarbons for their creation, distribution and maintenance.  ‘Net zero’ standards mean nothing when you view the reality that without hydrocarbons, there won’t be any of the purported ‘green’ technologies available to use.  Without hydrocarbons none of these ‘saviour-technologies’ can be built or maintained. 

This medium-length post focuses on Electric Vehicle batteries and their non-green, Gaia unfriendly reality.  The next two posts will analyse the Bird chopping Wind Turbines and the rather useless solar panels. 

Besides the fact that there is no ‘climate crisis’, there are 3 myths that the ‘Science’ pushes about EVs or Electric Vehicles.

Myth 1:  EVs ‘emit’ less ‘carbon’ than combustion engines.  This is unlikely to be true (depending on what powers the grid) but in essence who cares?  These calculations are probably fraudulent (Corona, Climate modelling anyone?), and don’t include the life cycle of building, transporting, replacing and disposing of EVs.  Petrol and diesel cars emit trace particles of various elements as will an EV.  It is however a ‘red herring’.  It is a meaningless statistic. 

To wit - combustion engine vehicles emit traces of carbon monoxide, nitrogen and about 17.000 pounds of Co2 over their lifetime.  In total less than 8 billion tonnes of Co2 is released from petrol and diesel engines annually – a rounding error against the one trillion tonnes or more of Co2 in the atmosphere.  Co2 is largely recycled so its impact is minimal.  Even if EVs emit less, it is hardly going to ‘save the planet’ given there is no impact whatsoever on weather, or climate, from our collection of 10 billion or so vehicles globally. 

Myth 2:  EVs are Gaia friendly.  This is a ridiculous assertion when you look at the extraction and strip mining used (using hydrocarbon energy), the vast seas of water needed in extraction, the pollution, chemical leeching and the lack of EV reuse and recycling.  EV materials (more below) are not ‘renewable’ in that there is limited supply and mining and manufacturing these minerals relies on hydrocarbon usage. 

Myth 3:  EVs are cheaper.  This is an absurdity.  If you strip out all tax breaks, subsidies, grants and retail tax holidays and add look at real energy costs of charging, maintenance, battery replacements and insurance, EVs are probably 2x more expensive than petrol and diesel cars, fake ‘studies’ and ‘fact checks’ notwithstanding.  Reality is more factual than paid-for-research by a criminal cabal. 

Electric Vehicles (EV) are not ‘Green’

There is not much that is ‘Green’ about the EVs.  A 60 kwH EV battery weighs between 60-80 pounds on average, which is roughly double the weight of the average petrol car battery.  In an average sized EV, there exists 45 pounds of lithium and more than 10 pounds of cobalt, nickel and manganese.  Copper, aluminium, and polymer plastics are other key components in an EV.  None of these materials comes cheaply or at ‘net zero’ cost to Gaia.

With the exception of child slave labour which procures cobalt and other rare minerals, these components are largely processed, distributed and manufactured with hydro-carbon technology.  Total reserves do not indicate the ability to mine, or the quality of the minerals.  Many reserves may not be economically accessible or of high enough quality to be mined.  If governments keep pushing EV usage which is now <15% of new car sales to completely replace combustion engines (called zero emissions by ‘the science’), the world will simply run out of minable minerals to feed into EV production. 

About 60 pounds of batteries are needed to store the energy equivalent in one pound of fossil fuels. For every one pound of batteries produced, 50 to 100 pounds of lithium, copper, nickel, graphite, rare earths, and cobalt are mined and processed. Thus, a future of batteries for electric vehicles and back-up energy for the grid would require mining gigatons more materials as well as gigatons of materials needed to manufacture wind turbines and solar panels.

How is moving gigatons of earth, Gaia-friendly?  The vast majority of the massive 200 plus tonne mining trucks excavating salt flats for lithium are hydro-carbon powered, with a few firms developing hybrids, EVs or hydrogen fuel cell engines to great and extensive mass media applause.  The reality is that these huge vehicles depend on diesel for performance, duration and reliability.  Renewable diesel can also be used to reduce costs and ‘emissions’ and seems to be a more practical alternative than hydrogen fuel cells, or 1000 kwh batteries which will need a reliable grid to recharge.    

(Anglo American 1000 kWh battery powered mining truck, imagine the reliable grid needed to service a fleet of these monsters. Looking forward to seeing these massive batteries at the end of their useful life, dumped in a landfill leeching pollutants into the ground soil.)

For the record ‘Fossils’ don’t make fuels.  Neither do rocks.  Hydrocarbon energy is abiotic, self-regenerating energy made at the mantle and core.  Hydrocarbons are renewable - naturally.  ‘Green energy’ minerals are not renewable.  How ironic.

Not Renewable

The main components and minerals needed in an EV are below, and the issues are obvious.Lithium:

• The lightweight metal plays a key role in the cathodes of all types of lithium-ion batteries that power EVs.  

• Worldwide reserves total some 80 million tonnes.  Global output is 120.000 tonnes per annum. 

• Australia produces 61.000 tonnes per annum, followed by Chile at 39.000.

• The largest lithium reserves are found in Bolivia (21 million tonnes), Argentina (17 million tonnes), Chile (9 million), US (7 million), Australia (6 million and the largest current producer), China (5 million). 

• Massive amounts of earth are moved to access lithium (including salt lakes, a list of key lithium mines here).  The ratio might be as high as 50 tonnes of raw earth is mined or moved, to produce 1 tonne of usable lithium. 

• There is anywhere from 20-200 years of lithium reserves identified based on current usage depending on your source.

• However, maybe 1/3 of total reserves can be mined and it takes years to get a lithium mine operational and productive, so actual reserves are probably 30-50 years of supply at 2035 estimated demand levels. 

2. Cobalt: 

• Cobalt is essential in EV batteries and a high supply risk.  Costs are $70.000 per tonne or more, making it a high cost component for EVs.  

• Cobalt is also used in mobile phone manufacturing and other industries. 

• There are 7 million tonnes of cobalt reserves worldwide, with some 170.000 tonnes are mined every year.

• Global Reserves: The Congo (DRC) has 50% of the world’s known supply or 3.6 million tonnes and Australia possesses some 1.6 million tonnes.  Much of Congolese cobalt output is accomplished with child labour. 

• There might be 30-40 years of available supply which can be mined.

3. Manganese:

• A global reserve of 800 million tonnes has been identified.

• Annually about 25 million tonnes are produced and consumed, with the steel industry accounting for 80% or more of manganese consumption. 

• There might be 40 years supply left based on what can be mined.

• South Africa produces 7.2 million tonnes per annum, Gabon some 4.6 million Australia 3.3 million tonnes, and Ukraine 400.000.

• Ukraine has almost 20% of the world’s manganese reserve supply.

4. Graphite:  

• Graphite (pencil lead) is a naturally occurring form of carbon and is a critical component in various industrial applications, including the production of batteries, lubricants, and other high-tech products.

• Graphite is used as an anode material in lithium-ion batteries.

• Approximately 1.5 million tonnes are mined and manufactured every year, with China accounting for 850.000 tonnes.  India, Brazil and Mozambique are other notable graphite producers.

• Graphite is expensive to mine with an average price of $550 per metric tonne, but many projects needing almost double that price to be economical.

• Graphite shortages due to increased EV demand are expected to start in 2030, substantially elevating prices which may allow some graphite mining projects to proceed.

5. Nickel:

• A global supply of 80-100 million tonnes exist, with 3 million tonnes being mined annually.

• There may be 700 million tonnes of recoverable nickel resources yet to be fully investigated and discovered (e.g. oceanic floor, New Caledonia deposits).

• Australia and Indonesia have the world’s largest nickel supplies at around 21 million tonnes each. 

• Existing nickel supplies probably won’t be exhausted for a long while (estimates range from 100 years to 1000). 

• However, with increasing EV usage, nickel consumption will increase by at least 30% by 2030, putting pressure on reserves and pricing. 

6. Copper:

• Global reserves of 870 million tonnes exist with an annual usage of 28 million tonnes, there is roughly 200 years of copper reserves identified.

• Chile produces about 5.5 million tonnes per year, Peru 2.5 million and China 1.5 million tonnes.

Problems with non-renewable ‘EV’ technology

(Lithium mine layout - strip mining at its finest with all the attendant ecological damage.)

There are many issues with EVs besides government coercion, massive subsidisation, rising costs and batteries catching on fire.  Some key issues are listed below. 

No advantages over hydrocarbons

1.     Producing EVs with hydrocarbon energy and related ‘carbon emissions’, negates any ‘non carbon advantage’ from using the end product.

2.     EV production uses 3 times more energy than a combustion engine.

3.     EV’s must be replaced every 5-10 years at an enormous consumer cost (U$10.000 or more per EV). 

4.     Heavier electric vehicles will lead to road damage and increased usage of tarmac and asphalt, which are composed of carbon (tar, bitumen). 

5.     Insurance costs are 2-10 times higher for EVs and unaffordable for many. 

6.     Even with subsidies comprising some 20% of the vehicles price tag (in many countries no retail tax is applied to an EV sale, and there are direct state grants to buy one), EVs are still roughly 2x more expensive per unit than petrol or diesel vehicles. 

7.     EVs are far more expensive to run and maintain, regardless of mass media propaganda, especially when future electricity prices (and likely taxes) are increased to compensate for increasing demand against a limited supply. 

8.     EVs don’t operate well in cold climates and have limited range. 

Not Gaia friendly

9.     To extract one tonne of lithium requires about 500,000 litres of water, and can result in the poisoning of reservoirs and related health problems.

10.  To extract 60.000 tonnes of lithium or about 6 months of supply, entails moving about 20-30 million tonnes of earth, more than the US coal industry moves in one year. 

11.  Less than 5% of EVs are recycled and the rest are dumped into landfills, where the various chemicals leech into the ground and groundwater.  Landfill fires from disposed EVs are not uncommon.

12.  By 2030 some 200 million EVs might be on the road globally leading to enormous ecological damage from the dumping of batteries as more than 250.000 tonnes of scrap waste, every year, are casually tossed into Gaia.  

13.  EV cars release more toxic tyre particles into the air than their petrol equivalents.

14.  It is impossible to replace our large transport fleets and cargo ships with EVs.  The batteries cost, weight, storage capability and the lack of infrastructure make the mass media claim that long road or oceanic haulage will be ‘electrified’ a baseless lie. 

15.  There is not enough national grid capacity, charging capacity or hydro-electric distribution capacity, to replace our combustion engines with EV fleets.  Not now, not anytime in the future, especially if nuclear, coal and natural gas networks are declared illegal and taken offline. More here