If You Have, Or Are Thinking Of Buying A EV

have a read of this,

photograph @Hanna Roth, the article is from David Thomas I have copied it in full:

DID YOU SAY YOU WERE GOING GREEN?

This is a 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 be extracted from sea water)

·        5 tons of cobalt minerals (most cobalt is made as a byproduct of processing copper and nickel ores. It is the most difficult and expensive material to obtain for a battery).

·        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 to move the earth to obtain the minerals needed for this battery. The Caterpillar consumes 264 gallons of diesel in 12 hours.

The bulk of necessary minerals for manufacturing the batteries come from China or Africa. Much of the labor in Africa is done by children. When you buy an electric car, China profits most.

The 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 are:

·        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 7 years for an electric car to reach net-zero CO2. The life expectancy of the battery is 10 years (average). Only in the last 3 years do you start to reduce your carbon footprint, but then the batteries must be replaced and you lose all gains made.

And finally, I forgot to mention the amount of energy required to process the raw materials and the amount of energy used to haul these batteries to the U.S. - sometimes back and forth a couple of times.

But by all means, get an electric car. Just don't sell me on how awesome you are for the environment. Or for human rights.

a fascinating read, do I want a EV? not on your life do I want to join the hypocrites that drive EV's! keeping to a EV theme if you have one of these:

image Tesla, car company Tesla has issued a recall of nearly all Cybertrucks sold to date, following reports of its accelerator pad becoming stuck at "full throttle", the recall applies to 3,878 vehicles produced between 13 November and 4 April, when Tesla started utilising soap as a lubricant to aid assembly in an "unapproved change" to the manufacturing process, according to a report from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Association, In at least two reported cases, residues of this lubricant caused the accelerator pad to detach from its pedal and become trapped in the car's interior trim, causing unwanted acceleration, "It held the accelerator down 100 per cent at full throttle," one driver describes in a video that seems to demonstrate the issue, owners of the 3,878 Cybertrucks affected by the recall – which, according to TechCrunch, is nearly all of them sold to date – will have to bring their cars into a service centre for a free repair, ah! the pleasures of EV ownership!