Wednesday, March 21, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
15
Are electric vehicles actually healthy for the environment?
By Ethan Ferwalt
Correspondent
Conversation surrounding
electric vehicles and the envi-
ronment has been steadily on
the rise as companies such as
Tesla and Volkswagen vow to
“save the planet” with low-
emission models. However,
the most important step to
keeping a healthy ecosystem is
educating potential consumers
about both benefits and risks
of lithium-ion technology in
a world already undergoing
heavy pollution.
Everyone knows that elec-
tric cars have zero tailpipe
emissions, and corporations
are quick to advertise their
new green business model
— Nissan’s Leaf is just one
example.
But how eco-friendly is the
electric vehicle, really?
According to data com-
piled by the Alternative Fuels
Data Center, provided by the
U.S. Department of Energy,
you can expect the average
gasoline-powered car to emit
11,435 pounds of CO2 into
the atmosphere yearly. In con-
trast, energy used to power
a Chevrolet Volt or a Tesla
Model S comes from a wall
socket, which may be supplied
by a coal plant; however, even
then, the electric motor’s effi-
ciency reduces the total carbon
footprint. As such, the average
American all-electric vehicle
pollutes an equivalent of 4,455
pounds of CO2 annually. But
that’s not all — more than 60
percent of Oregon’s power
grid is supplied by hydroelec-
tric power. As such, the aver-
age Oregonian electric vehicle
emits a comparatively measly
1,232 pounds annually.
The relationship between
carbon emissions and the
health of the environment is
a topic of widespread debate;
however, there are other con-
siderations worth highlighting
in the electric vehicle market.
To be precise, the chemical
composition of electric vehicle
batteries raises two primary
environmental concerns.
Ingredients found in any
Lithium-ion battery can
make the item toxic, corro-
sive, explosive and downright
dangerous; this is the first
concern. In any new market,
even if companies provide
healthy reusing and recycling
programs, there will inevita-
bly be people who dispose of
items improperly. At current,
lithium-ion recycling stands
as low as five percent in many
parts of the world, largely due
to lack of information. If scrap-
ping high-capacity batteries
in landfills remains the norm,
we can expect to observe high
levels of pollution and serious
danger to public health, not
dissimilar to the situation in
Flint, Michigan today.
Another environmen-
tal impact influenced by the
advent of lithium-ion technol-
ogy is the acquisition of raw
resources. Cobalt is an element
used increasingly in the mod-
ern world since it acts as an
essential component in all-too-
common rechargeable batter-
ies. Found within laptops, cell
phones, and now cars in mas-
sive supply, cobalt is a highly
toxic metal obtained from
mines all over the world. These
mines, many of which located
near poor villages in central
Africa, impose serious dan-
ger to their workers. Children,
as young as four years old,
are exposed to metal physi-
cally toxic to the skin. Miners
breathe cobalt fumes and
regularly develop lung condi-
tions. Cave-ins and accidents
are frequent, with as many as
six per month, killing hun-
dreds (if not thousands) yearly.
Obviously there is a cost,
not only in the lives of those
miners but also in the world’s
ecosystem, if recycling efforts
are ignored. The more we
recycle, the fewer materials
must be extracted and bought
from African laborers, and the
fewer materials are left to seep
into groundwater. The solu-
tion, it appears, lies solely with
the companies who manufac-
ture electric vehicles. Tesla
and other corporations need
to pour resources into high-
level recycling and filtration
techniques on account of mass
health and safety.
In an electric vehicle bat-
tery, there lay thousands of
individual cells that act as
separate charging compart-
ments — a microcosm within
the whole. Even when han-
dling a dead electric car, there
are often many such cells that
are perfectly serviceable, even
if others have failed. Reusing
efforts are already fairly strong
for these healthy battery cells,
which itself is a healthy step
forward.
However, research also
needs to be conducted in how
to recycle even the dead cells,
such that new batteries can be
manufactured from old materi-
als. Techniques such as smelt-
ing are more difficult with
lithium-ion technology than
with past battery types, due to
newfound complexity in the
design of the systems. This
complexity grants lithium-ion
its superior properties, but
presses technical challenges
on recyclers.
In a decade or so, the first
wave of electric vehicles will
start reaching the end of their
life. Recycling plants will start
being serviceable (and per-
haps even profitable) ventures,
but at current there aren’t cars
available that are old enough
to perfect these complex
processes.
The field is burgeoning and
the possibilities are exciting
for electric vehicle businesses
and consumers both, but sus-
tainability is what’s important
in the long run. I know I’d be
excited to purchase a sleek,
fast e-vehicle, but I’ll be sure
to conduct research into local
recycling options and com-
pany policies beforehand. The
beauty of free market is that
we, the consumers, always
have the option to vote with
our dollar. I implore everyone
to conduct research into battery
recycling and the sourcing of
your vehicle’s materials before
making your final purchase.
Ethan Ferwalt is a senior at
Sisters High School.
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