Richard Tracy: Not enough materials exist to fuel drive for electric vehicles

Oct 11, 2022
Oct 11, 2022
2

To The Daily Sun,

Since the 2020 election, the NH Congressional delegation has voted to spend many hundreds of billions of dollars on Electric vehicles, presumably to combat climate change. What Chris Pappas, Maggie Hassan, Annie Kuster and Jeanne Shaheen have not done, however, is to consider the availability (or lack thereof) of necessary raw materials to build electric vehicles and the rechargeable batteries which power them.

The SAE cites the International Energy Agency: an electric car requires 146 lb. of graphite, 117.2 lb. copper, 87.9 lb. nickel, 54 lb. manganese, 29.3 lb. cobalt, 19.6 lb. lithium, and 1.1 lb. rare earth metals. Conventional autos require no graphite, nickel, cobalt, lithium, or rare earth. According to reports, the mining of these minerals does tremendous damage to the environments from which they come and the evaporative process by which some, such as lithium, are mined severely depletes or damages local supplies of fresh water.

Of these minerals, 100% of the required graphite, manganese and rare earth must be imported. More than half of the required lithium and cobalt must be imported. There is reportedly only one lithium mine in the United States.

Contrast foreign reliance for EV-needed imported raw materials with the reality that the USA can be 100% energy independent with reliance upon fossil fuels, commodities which are produced with far less environmental damage, commodities employ and pay excellent wages to many thousands of Americans.

In their idealistic support for vast expenditures on electric vehicles Pappas, Hassan, Kuster and Sheehan have not done their homework. Long term, EVs may be an improvement over existing cars, but our nation has not created the necessary, reliable sourcing for the required minerals. Good intentions aren’t enough. Long range planning is required, but politicians plan only as far ahead as the next election.

Richard Tracy

Laconia

(2) comments

David Ecklein Oct 24, 2022 8:13pm

Mr. Tracy, I agree with your concern about the availability of scarce materials needed for EV production on the mass scale envisioned by their promoters. In fact, you have interested me in this aspect of the EV issue to search for more details. I just now downloaded a 287 page PDF from SAE,available via google. The materials availability and cost will remain relatively unnoticed so long as EVs are a niche market. But promoters and politicians envision a mass replacement, which I believe will be unrealistic in the foreseeable future; scaling up will expose the truth.

My focus and concern as an electrical engineer has been the lack of electrical infrastructure in the US to support more than a single-digit replacement of conventional vehicles with EVs. In fact, the infrastructure is stressed to the breaking point already, and electricity is too expensive in many places (including New Hampshire). Additional demand will drive prices even higher.

EVs will not necessarily make a dent in fossil fuel consumption, since that depends on how the electricity is generated. Also, fossil fuels (petroleum, gas, coal) are used to heat our homes, cook our food, heat water, etc. To get away from fossils, it would be necessary to convert to electric appliances as well as just vehicles. And the electricity needed will have to be generated by means other than fossil fuels - such as nuclear, hydro power, geothermal, plus some support from intermittent sources like wind and solar.

I feel the need for more study and discussion before locking into bad policy, and I hope others reading this will share that feeling, including key decision makers.

David Ecklein BSEE MIT

Rumney NH