471
submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Everyone knows that electric vehicles are supposed to be better for the planet than gas cars. That's the driving reason behind a global effort to transition toward batteries.

But what about the harms caused by mining for battery minerals? And coal-fired power plants for the electricity to charge the cars? And battery waste? Is it really true that EVs are better?

The answer is yes. But Americans are growing less convinced.

The net benefits of EVs have been frequently fact-checked, including by NPR. "No technology is perfect, but the electric vehicles are going to offer a significant benefit as compared to the internal combustion engine vehicles," Jessika Trancik, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told NPR this spring.

It's important to ask these questions about EVs' hidden costs, Trancik says. But they have been answered "exhaustively"


her word


and a widerange of organizations have confirmed that EVs still beat gas.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

It's basic math, 1,000 pound battery packs x 3.3 million current vehicles.

We do have some local recycling, but nothing at that scale and the batteries have a 15 to 20 year lifespan.

Tesla was around 2008 so by 2028 we need to have a plan for mass recycling. Maybe sooner because I'm sure those 2008 batteries are pushing it by now.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

It’s basic math, 1,000 pound battery packs x 3.3 million current vehicles.

Its basic math with incorrect inputs. According to your own source only 600 lbs to 750 lbs of that requires "battery recycling" that needs special battery recycling facilities. You're welcome to hang your hat on that if you want, I suppose, but it makes me question your other assertions.

We do have some local recycling, but nothing at that scale and the batteries have a 15 to 20 year lifespan.

I agree, but that also means its not an imminent problem. All of your language here is suggesting it is, unless I'm hearing you wrong.

Maybe sooner because I’m sure those 2008 batteries are pushing it by now.

This is what I'm talking about when doubting your arguments and urgency. In 2008 the SUM TOTAL of Tesla cars sold was less than 100. How about 2009? About 900 cars. 2010? Only about 400 cars. source

In TOTAL there were only 2,450 Tesla Roadsters ( the first Tesla) made over 4 years and sold in 30 different countries.

Tesla was around 2008 so by 2028 we need to have a plan for mass recycling.

So if 100% of all the Tesla roadsters batteries died and were completely unusable in 2028 we'd need the recycling capacity of 100 batteries, and thats four years from now.

this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
471 points (96.4% liked)

News

23284 readers
3512 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS