Electric Vehicles, Are They Really The Future?

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By: Siera Schroeder

It is not a surprise that electric cars have been growing in popularity. Furthermore, both governments and automakers are promoting electric cars as the vehicles of the future and a “key technology to curb oil use and fight climate change.” General Motors, in a bold 2021 Super Bowl ad, announced that it would exclusively produce electric vehicles by 2035. Other companies have since followed suit, Volvo announced it would introduce an all-electric lineup by 2030, and companies like Hyundai and Jaguar have also announced goals to move towards all-electric lineups.

There is no doubt that electric cars emit less carbon dioxide into the environment than their gas and diesel-fueled counterparts; the questions remain of how green are they really, and is this actually the best direction for car development? Plug-in vehicles still have a host of environmental downfalls, for one, they are generally charged through power drawn from the electrical grid. Most electric grids in the United States are powered with a mix of fossil fuels and renewable power sources. Despite drawing power from these grids, electric vehicles are still “greener than conventional cars.”

The potentially greater environmental issue stems from the batteries that power electric vehicles. What becomes of the batteries when they are no longer in use? Or perhaps more importantly, what are the environmental consequences of mining for the precious metals that are required to create the batteries? The lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles rely on raw materials such as cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements. Mining for these elements has been linked to “grave environmental and human rights concerns,” with cobalt being exceptionally problematic.

The environmental fallout from cobalt mining is not yet completely understood, as researchers have only recently begun to study it. However, scientists have recorded “alarming radioactivity levels” in mining regions, dust from pulverized rock is known to cause breathing problems, and mining waste “often pollutes rivers and drinking water.” Hazardous tailings produced from mining leach into the environment, thereby causing the pollution of groundwater. Furthermore, extraction of the metals from the ore in which they’re found requires a process known as smelting. Smelting emits sulfur oxide and other harmful air pollutants, which further contribute to climate change and the environmental harms associated with mining.

Automakers and manufacturers have stated that they will “develop batteries that decrease, or do away with, cobalt altogether.” However, according to Mickaël Daudin of Pact, a nonprofit organization that works with mining communities in Africa, these commitments are “not realistic” within the near future because the technology to do so is still in development. Furthermore, the prevalence of these mines indicates cobalt will not be eliminated from lithium-ion batteries anytime soon.

Even if automakers and other manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries were able to reduce their reliance on cobalt there is growing concern around what will be done with the batteries that already exist when they reach the end of their lifespan. Presently, it is estimated that only 5 percent of lithium-ion batteries are recycled. Some experts believe that the precious metals and other materials within the batteries can be recovered and reused. Other experts believe the batteries used in vehicles specifically can be repurposed for other applications, such as energy storage for the electrical grid. Until the technology to actually implement these ideas is improved and made widely available, the only option is recycling. Recycling batteries, however, can use large amounts of water or emit air pollutants.

Are there any alternatives that have less of an environmental impact than electric vehicles, or is this the best we can hope for at present? Toyota believes it may have found the answer. The new Toyota Mirai is a hydrogen fuel-cell powered car that produces electricity from a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Toyota claims the car can travel as far on a tank of hydrogen as a comparable gas fueled car and refueling only takes 3-5 minutes, which is much quicker than the electric counterparts. The only emissions from the vehicle are water, and unlike the precious metals required for lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen is an abundant and easy-to-produce resource. There are still emissions associated with hydrogen, however. Although it is an abundant resource in the universe, hydrogen must first be separated from other compounds before it can be used as fuel, a process which can be energy intensive.

However, there are pilot projects in place which are using landfill gas and wastewater to make hydrogen fuel. Landfills naturally produce methane which can be captured and used to create hydrogen. This would replace the current model in which hydrogen is derived from fossil fuels. For example, in California, FuelCell Energy created a system where methane is captured from a local landfill and reformulated into hydrogen. It then sends the hydrogen to a fuel cell which turns the gas into electricity to power the facility. Leftover hydrogen is sent to a fueling station to fuel hydrogen powered vehicles. BMW is working on a similar project in South Carolina.   

The biggest obstacle to popularity for hydrogen vehicles in the United States is that the infrastructure to refuel them is essentially nonexistent. In Europe, Toyota has been active in building the required infrastructure through the Hydrogen For Innovative Vehicles (Hyfive) Project, and is working with the Clean Energy Partnership and UKH2Mobility to promote the use of hydrogen vehicles. As of the writing of this article, there are no similar programs or partnerships in the United States to promote building hydrogen infrastructure or awareness that hydrogen cars exist.

There are, however, some federal laws and incentives that may encourage automakers and manufacturers to pursue hydrogen vehicles. Alternative Fuel Corridor Grants will provide funding to install alternative fuel infrastructure in specified areas of the highway to create more fueling stations and meet higher demand. The Alternative Fuel Excise Tax Credit will reduce the cost per gallon of alternative fuels by $0.50. The Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit provides a tax credit for 30% of the cost of installing fueling equipment for natural gas, propane, hydrogen, electric and some other alternative fuel options. However, this credit is set to end on December 31, 2021. Finally, Hydrogen Demonstration Project Grants were created in partnership with the Department of Energy’s Energy Earthshots Initiative with the goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per kilogram in one decade. This will be done by funding projects to bridge the technical gaps in hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and utilization technologies. While these are not all of the laws and incentives the federal government has put in place, it is representative of a larger push towards zero or low emissions fuel sources.

Are electric cars really the vehicle of the future? Or are there better options with even fewer environmental consequences? As of now, there is a strong push towards all electric vehicles, but those vehicles come with both environmental and human rights concerns. It is time the United States started investing more heavily in hydrogen vehicles. They are greener and do not carry the same human rights concerns.