EV news. Hybrid News. A Path Forward.

You do realize lithium is highly toxic to humans, right?


The point is are EVs, the resource extraction and manufacturing going to be all that much better for us and the environment?

https://unctad.org/news/developing-countries-pay-environmental-cost-electric-car-batteries

Ever watch anyone die from cancer? Isn’t really anything to joke about, client of mine today has Stage 4, leaving for Disney Land one last time.

 

yes

 

What if they aren't?

 

It's already been proven many times that the answer to that is yes, vs comparing to continuing with ICE. Materials like problematic cobalt cited in that article are already no longer required with newer advanced batteries like Tesla's LPF battery, the article is 3 years old and already out of date on BEV tech. That is how quickly it is moving. BEV is in its infancy and technological advances will continue to improve the process vs ICE that has long since plateaued.

I recently traveled across Europe and to my surprise, every gas station we stopped at along major highways also had high speed EV chargers, there were signs on the highways for high speed EV chargers right along side the gas ones. Europe is doing a way better job building out this infrastructure than the US is.

 

cool story. I guess oil is good for one thing only? Or is there a long list of things we use in our daily lives that oil is needed for beside refining into fuel?

 

Everyone always wants to make everything so black and white. Are oil and other petroleum products an absolute necessity to modern lifestyles? Yes. Can we make some changes that improve the environmental outlook by burning less of it? Also yes. Personal EVs are just one small step in helping to reduce the environmental impact that humans will always create.

 

https://techinformed.com/almost-400-new-mines-needed-to-meet-future-ev-battery-demand-data-finds/

 

I think we could do better. However greed tends to get in the way. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

 

Demand requires resources, it’s as simple as that. BEV is still proven to be better over the product lifecycle (from raw resource extraction to product grave). ICE isn’t getting by on the current resources either, 40,000+ new oil well are drilled annually in the quest for more oil to meet demand.

https://worldoil.com/magazine/2023/...h-outside-the-u-s-continues-at-measured-pace/

Oil wells also continue to be an environmental issue even after they are done drilling.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/01/31...phan-oil-gas-wells-cut-methane-emissions.html

I’m not saying mining is great, but oil extraction certainly isn’t either and is not sustainable. Again it has been shown when all that is factored in BEV still comes out far ahead.

 

most oil rigs/pads have multiple wells. in my own experience i've worked on rigs that had 2 dozen wells. the drilling of wells isn't nearly as destructive/invasive as strip mining for minerals.

 

Have some buddies in both industries, oil wells really aren’t as bad as most people think they are, minerals however. We remove whole mountain tops. Used to live in Arizona, have been to the Cat proving grounds in Green Valley, Morenci, San Manual and Globe….want to see the massive destruction and ecological disasters up close….go there. The pictures don’t do it justice. Reducing the need for minerals seems like a better way, no talk of that, only that we need to buy more and more, consumers need to keep the coffers filled of the those in control.

What no one else seems to mention is our human need to be absolutely comfortable at all times, the HVAC systems do far worse damage to the environment than our vehicles do. Not hearing much if anything about changing that. When I lived in AZ the AC would run 24 hours a day for 6-7 months out of the year, my truck maybe 20-30 minutes a day. Sometimes not all on the weekends…too hot to go do much if anything.

The general public is so far removed from the actual process of resource extraction and manufacturing, don’t think they realize how awful it is. BEVs are nothing more than a feel good exercise, like recycling plastic, even Green Peace says it is hopeless. If you truly want to save the planet quit buying shit and reproducing. Extremes got us into this mess, extremes are the only way to get us out.

 

Ever look at Picher, OK on google maps? crazy stuff

 

Oh yeah, saw a documentary on that.

My family used to be West Virginia/Pennsylvania coal miners, they remove whole mountain tops now, we humans are awful. Solar arrays and wind farms aren’t much better, still destroys habitat. Live in Idaho now, mostly hydro here…the fish population is decimated. The natural flow of rivers and creeks forever changed. No matter what we touch it turns to shit.

So here we are pointing fingers at each other over what is the lesser evil, hate to break it to yawl….it is all evil. Just look at how we treat each on this stupid forum, constantly arguing and being dicks to one another. Not sure we are worth saving as a species. To our knowledge we are the most intelligent that has ever risen, yet the most destructive and know full well of it.

 

No, oil is necessary for s lot of products in the world. Refining it, burning it and breathing it shouldn't be one of them.

 

well, you cant just use unrefined oil for much of anything.

 

Refining it to burn in ICE vehicle.

 

https://www.thedrive.com/features/how-one-man-set-a-pikes-peak-record-in-a-stock-rivian-r1t

 

It is kinda crazy, no matter what it is, or how it is powered…we buy vehicles to mostly get us back and forth to some miserable job so we can afford the vehicle to get us back and forth to some miserable job. Perhaps we need a total revamp on how we live?

 

lets start with owning a couple chickens/quail and growing small vegetable gardens.

 

Already have done that. have a bunch of chickens, so many eggs we have to give them away. The garden is big enough to supply us with 90% of our veggies. It helps, but we still both have full time jobs. Her commute is only 3/4s of mile, mine 20…I am self employed, my boss is a dick and still makes me go. lol!

Plus my father-in-law has a 75 acre farm. Though imagine when he passes, there is going to be fight amongst her siblings on who gets what, most likely be turned into a soulless cookie cutter subdivision. (No Farms No Food) He is one of the last two holdouts in his area. Her siblings are all about the money and status quo, while we would like to keep it going. We have decided it isn’t worth the fight.