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The Tesla model Y battery. It takes up all of the space under the passenger compartment of the car.
To manufacture it you need:
--12 tons of rock for Lithium (can also beextracted from sea water)
-- 5 tons of cobalt minerals (Most cobalt is made as a byproduct of the processing of copper and nickel ores. It is the most difficult material to obtain for a battery and the most expensive.)
-- 3 tons nickel ore
-- 12 tons of copper ore
You must move 250 tons of soil to obtain:
-- 26.5 pounds of Lithium
-- 30 pounds of nickel
-- 48.5 pounds of manganese
-- 15 pounds of cobalt
To manufacture the battery also requires:
-- 441 pounds of aluminum, steel and/or plastic
-- 112 pounds of graphite
The Caterpillar 994A is used for the earthmoving to obtain the essential minerals. It consumes 264 gallons of diesel in 12 hours.
Finally you get a “zero emissions” car.
Presently, the bulk of the necessary minerals for manufacturing the batteries come from China or Africa. Much of the labor for getting the minerals in Africa is done by children! If we buy electric cars, it's China who profits most!
BTW, this 2021 Tesla Model Y OEM battery (the cheapest Tesla battery) is currently for sale on the Internet for $4,999 not including shipping or installation. The battery weighs 1,000 pounds (you can imagine the shipping cost). The cost of Tesla batteries is:
Model 3 -- $14,000+ (Car MSRP $38,990)
Model Y -- $5,000–$5,500 (Car MSRP $47,740)
Model S -- $13,000–$20,000 (Car MSRP $74,990)
Model X -- $13,000+ (Car MSRP $79,990)
It takes SEVEN years for an electric car to reach net-zero CO2. The life expectancy of the batteries is 10 years (average). Only in the last three years do you begin to reduce your carbon footprint. Then the batteries have to be replaced and you lose all the gains you made in those three years.
Good numbers but you might look at real world(tm) EV battery lifecycle. Seems they have some 2-3 percent loss of capacity every year and around 6 years that accelerates Bady. And that's before any environmental effects like living in New England weather cycle.
ReplyDeleteThere is the moral aspect of slave labor by children in toxic mines.
Now ask where you recycle those rather poisonous battery materials at the end of their cycle?
These are good points. Everyone knows that the 10 year "average" lifespan of EV batteries is probably highly optimistic.
DeleteOh... and how are they recycled... By essentially slave and frequently child labor under terrible conditions with the workers often exposed to all kinds of hazardous materials and often with a great deal of ground and water pollution durng the process.
The net is, as you imply, that EVs are not only not really environmentally friendly, they're actually worse for the environment than even vehicles that the greenie beanie eco-morons consider reprehensible like Hummer H1s. And a lot of other cars they hate like Corvettes are not only often "low emission" vehicles, they often don't even get terrible gas milage if they aren't driven super aggressively. I'll admit -- that's not mine. I'm either standing on one pedal or the other. But I suspect if I drove an EV I'd be waaaaaay below the average lifespan on those batteries too because I am sure the way I drive would be bad for them. Of course I'm a "deplorable", and most on the left think I should be exterminated for the good of the world anyway.
-swj
While there is lithium in certain rock types, nobody has found a way to economically extract it...
ReplyDeleteAll lithium production historically comes from processing brines, which are salt rich ground water (you can get it from sea water but it isn't economical because there isn't much there).
Don't forget the child labor and pollution involved with cobalt extraction and processing, the funding of terrorist groups there, and lots of other issues...
Jonathan
"Green" is a meaningless, ambiguous and vacuous term used by con men to bedazzle the ignorant masses out of tax dollars
ReplyDelete