What’s Gone Wrong with the Movement towards Environmentally-Friendly Transportation?
A vehicle powered by electricity that is kept in a battery pack is referred to as an electric car or Electric Vehicle. Since electric vehicles have no exhaust emissions, they have the potential to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and alleviate air pollution. In addition, electric vehicles have the potential to be quieter and more effective modes of transportation, helping to fight climate change and enhance urban air quality. On the other hand, EVs are creating unintended consequences that may jeopardise the whole EV movement. So, What is the politics behind the unintended consequencess, and what is going wrong with EVs, which are lauded as a movement in the right environmental direction?
Unforeseen Outcomes
Unintended consequences are effects or results that are unintended and frequently unanticipated and stem from a certain action, decision, policy, or intervention. These effects, which may materialise despite well-intentioned attempts which might be either favourable or detrimental. They frequently result from intricately linked systems, making it difficult to correctly foresee every conceivable outcome. Unintended consequences can occur in many different areas, including economics, social policy, technology, and environmental management, and can have wide-ranging effects.
The Challenges to Electric Vehicles
Consider the fact that we are still a very long way from having electric charging stations with consistent nozzle sizes as commonplace as modern gas or petrol pumps, as well as motorway infrastructure that can accommodate drivers who will inevitably run out of juice. The size, weight, and structure of the batteries that power these cars come next, but they pose a far greater danger to the integrity of the green movement.
1. Impact of EVs on Infrastructures
The relationship between the enormous weight of commercial vehicles carrying batteries weighing, in some cases, more than half a ton and the crater-like potholes that now pose a serious threat to all road users is not thoroughly studied. Additionally, bridges built to support only the weight of diesel-fuelled buses and lorries are also at risk. Few owners of EVs are aware of the connection or relationship between the distance between charging stations and the additional weight required to power that extra mile.
2. Environmental Concerns regarding Electric Vehicles
The materials used—typically lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, steel, and manganese—determine the weight of the battery. The number of rare-earth magnets required for components like the gearbox, steering, brakes, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in a typical hybrid or electric car ranges from 4 to 12 pounds. A temperature between 800 and 1,000 degrees Celsius is required to synthesise the materials required for manufacture; the irony is that this temperature can only be efficiently attained by burning fossil fuels. The inevitable conclusion is that most of our self-flagellation regarding carbon footprints is little more than an empathic “feel-good” factor, given that the UK produces less than 1% of global carbon emissions and China and Russia are opening new coal mines yearly.
Challenges Ahead
Undoubtedly, it is easier to disregard the unsettling fact that extracting raw materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel requires a lot of labour and necessitates a huge amount of water, frequently from locations where water is limited. On the other hand, the Democratic Republic of the Congo provides 60% of the world’s cobalt, where concerns about human rights issues persist, including child labour, that are divergent from Euro-centric liberal values.
Is it any wonder that governments across the world, including Rishi Sunak’s administration, are revising net-zero targets and kicking them into the long grass to avoid any electoral hick-ups?