Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's Q and A of the day, mining carbon and
(00:03):
the environmental impact of evs. This is brought to you
by Molisten Ashes check Mark Collections. Each day I feature
a listener questions sent by one of these methods. You
may email me Brian Mudd at iHeartMedia dot com, hit
me up on social at Brian Mud Radio, get our
Parlor in Twitter. You may also use the iHeartRadio talk
back feature. Just tap on the microphone button wj NO
(00:24):
inside the iHeartRadio app and you may lay down your
message right there, perhaps for a future Q and A.
Today's note is this one? Where do the materials for
electric car batteries come from? Most of the cobalt used
in batteries today is claimed by China from mind in
the dominic democratic Republic of Congo, where extraction has come
with human rights abuses and environmental degradation. You are really
(00:50):
on point, really on point here, and I'm gonna kind
of walk through what goes on. Evs are slowly but
surely gaining traction. Obviously, states like California crafting policies to
mandate the sale of them in the future, but increasingly
what's also coming into focus is a how environmentally friendly
(01:12):
they are in reality and be due to the amount
of minds minerals which are necessary to operate the current
incarnations if they're even sustainable. So it's a topic I
first covered last November in evaluating energy and carbon savings
with evs, so let's start there, just in terms of
the overall impact. At the time, it brought you a
(01:34):
study by the University of Michigan where their Transportation Research
Institute found that vehicles saved the average user six hundred
and thirty two dollars in energy consumption annually, a number
that would be higher with gas prices being higher over
the past year. Additionally, they found there was additional environmental
benefit due to lower maintenance in evs due to fewer
(01:57):
moving parts having no exhausts them less demand on vehicle
cooling systems not needing to change oil fan belts, air filters,
timing belts, head gaskets, cylinder heads, and spark plugs. And
in the study, the researchers found net benefit in every
state with the use of evs for the first time,
and that comprehensive study was reviewed by Harvard scientist James Anderson,
(02:21):
and he concluded that electric cars are vastly better than
internal combustion devices, but still, when we're talking about environmental
impact specifically, the truce measure might be carbon footprints if
we're just talking about that aspect of it. And so.
A more recent study from MIT entitled Mobility of the Future,
(02:41):
examining future changes in personal mobility, it provided an answer
based on current EV technology. In their study, they illustrated
the environmental benefit of electric vehicles somewhat mitigated due to
higher output that's required to produce evs, most specifically the
batteries used in the vehicles, but that use of the
vehicles is far more efficient compared to their gas powered counterparts.
(03:06):
The net net of it all was that the average
electric vehicle produces twenty seven percent less carbon over the
life of the vehicle, meaning it is meaningful from an
environmental perspective, but also probably far lower in terms of
benefit among those who've been the strongest advocates for evs. Now,
like all technologies, efficiencies will likely continue to be realized.
(03:30):
The average fuel efficiency for gas powered vehicles today is
twenty five miles per gallon. Back in nineteen seventy five
it was twelve, so it's more than doubled since then,
and on that note, the current estimates call for seventy
five percent improvement in overall EV efficiency over the next
(03:51):
few decades. The real takeaway here is that a meaningfully
positive environmental impact from evs, even by way of measuring carbon,
is in reality more about the prospects of future vehicles
becoming more efficient than the current models. And speaking of
those current models, that takes me to what you were
specifically digging into, which is the impact of the mining
(04:12):
that's required for these vehicles. When we dig into the
minerals that must be mined, all existing evs need a
minimum of three minerals cobalt, lithium, and nickel. And to
the point of your question, cobalt, it's not meaningfully mined
within the United States, and indeed Congo is the top producer,
(04:33):
producing more than the rest of the world combined. They
happen to be followed by Russia, by the way, and
to your point cobalt in Congo, well, it's mined by China,
which claims eighty percent of the proceeds. So effectively, it's
currently impossible impossible to scale evs without completely being reliant
(04:57):
on China to do so. And that's just the cour
As for the lithium, Chile is the world's largest producer,
followed by Australia, Argentina, and China. The United States accounts
for just one percent of the world's lithium supply, or
once again not enough to scale EV's. But hey, at
least the trading partners would include options outside of China
(05:19):
and Russia. And the last, but not least, we have
nickel production. Indonesia is the top producer, with the Philippines
second and Russia third. The United States accounts were only
about one percent of the world's nickel population as well,
once again not enough to scale the industry. In fact,
get this, according to the US Geological Survey, if just
(05:41):
the United States, no other country, just the United States
were to completely convert to EV's, it would require more
mind minerals than the last year's total worldwide production of
all those minerals. The fact of the matter is this,
the greater the adaptation of EVS, the greater the reliance
on China that's required. Secondarily, let's say the country word
(06:03):
to attempt to do what California has mandated must eventually
be done, we literally could not do it. It's not possible.
It's not possible based on current production levels of minerals
and the demand for these resources for other purposes as well.
The bottom line is that significantly lower levels of mind
(06:24):
minerals are needed for future evs for them to be
viable options for the masses. This is beyond dispute, and
it's one of the challenges right now as you're seeing
some of these states trying to get out there with
some of these mandates.
Today's Q and A of the day, mining carbon and
(00:03):
the environmental impact of evs. This is brought to you
by Molisten Ashes check Mark Collections. Each day I feature
a listener questions sent by one of these methods. You
may email me Brian Mudd at iHeartMedia dot com, hit
me up on social at Brian Mud Radio, get our
Parlor in Twitter. You may also use the iHeartRadio talk
back feature. Just tap on the microphone button wj NO
(00:24):
inside the iHeartRadio app and you may lay down your
message right there, perhaps for a future Q and A.
Today's note is this one? Where do the materials for
electric car batteries come from? Most of the cobalt used
in batteries today is claimed by China from mind in
the dominic democratic Republic of Congo, where extraction has come
with human rights abuses and environmental degradation. You are really
(00:50):
on point, really on point here, and I'm gonna kind
of walk through what goes on. Evs are slowly but
surely gaining traction. Obviously, states like California crafting policies to
mandate the sale of them in the future, but increasingly
what's also coming into focus is a how environmentally friendly
(01:12):
they are in reality and be due to the amount
of minds minerals which are necessary to operate the current
incarnations if they're even sustainable. So it's a topic I
first covered last November in evaluating energy and carbon savings
with evs, so let's start there, just in terms of
the overall impact. At the time, it brought you a
(01:34):
study by the University of Michigan where their Transportation Research
Institute found that vehicles saved the average user six hundred
and thirty two dollars in energy consumption annually, a number
that would be higher with gas prices being higher over
the past year. Additionally, they found there was additional environmental
benefit due to lower maintenance in evs due to fewer
(01:57):
moving parts having no exhausts them less demand on vehicle
cooling systems not needing to change oil fan belts, air filters,
timing belts, head gaskets, cylinder heads, and spark plugs. And
in the study, the researchers found net benefit in every
state with the use of evs for the first time,
and that comprehensive study was reviewed by Harvard scientist James Anderson,
(02:21):
and he concluded that electric cars are vastly better than
internal combustion devices, but still, when we're talking about environmental
impact specifically, the truce measure might be carbon footprints if
we're just talking about that aspect of it. And so.
A more recent study from MIT entitled Mobility of the Future,
(02:41):
examining future changes in personal mobility, it provided an answer
based on current EV technology. In their study, they illustrated
the environmental benefit of electric vehicles somewhat mitigated due to
higher output that's required to produce evs, most specifically the
batteries used in the vehicles, but that use of the
vehicles is far more efficient compared to their gas powered counterparts.
(03:06):
The net net of it all was that the average
electric vehicle produces twenty seven percent less carbon over the
life of the vehicle, meaning it is meaningful from an
environmental perspective, but also probably far lower in terms of
benefit among those who've been the strongest advocates for evs. Now,
like all technologies, efficiencies will likely continue to be realized.
(03:30):
The average fuel efficiency for gas powered vehicles today is
twenty five miles per gallon. Back in nineteen seventy five
it was twelve, so it's more than doubled since then,
and on that note, the current estimates call for seventy
five percent improvement in overall EV efficiency over the next
(03:51):
few decades. The real takeaway here is that a meaningfully
positive environmental impact from evs, even by way of measuring carbon,
is in reality more about the prospects of future vehicles
becoming more efficient than the current models. And speaking of
those current models, that takes me to what you were
specifically digging into, which is the impact of the mining
(04:12):
that's required for these vehicles. When we dig into the
minerals that must be mined, all existing evs need a
minimum of three minerals cobalt, lithium, and nickel. And to
the point of your question, cobalt, it's not meaningfully mined
within the United States, and indeed Congo is the top producer,
(04:33):
producing more than the rest of the world combined. They
happen to be followed by Russia, by the way, and
to your point cobalt in Congo, well, it's mined by China,
which claims eighty percent of the proceeds. So effectively, it's
currently impossible impossible to scale evs without completely being reliant
(04:57):
on China to do so. And that's just the cour
As for the lithium, Chile is the world's largest producer,
followed by Australia, Argentina, and China. The United States accounts
for just one percent of the world's lithium supply, or
once again not enough to scale EV's. But hey, at
least the trading partners would include options outside of China
(05:19):
and Russia. And the last, but not least, we have
nickel production. Indonesia is the top producer, with the Philippines
second and Russia third. The United States accounts were only
about one percent of the world's nickel population as well,
once again not enough to scale the industry. In fact,
get this, according to the US Geological Survey, if just
(05:41):
the United States, no other country, just the United States
were to completely convert to EV's, it would require more
mind minerals than the last year's total worldwide production of
all those minerals. The fact of the matter is this,
the greater the adaptation of EVS, the greater the reliance
on China that's required. Secondarily, let's say the country word
(06:03):
to attempt to do what California has mandated must eventually
be done, we literally could not do it. It's not possible.
It's not possible based on current production levels of minerals
and the demand for these resources for other purposes as well.
The bottom line is that significantly lower levels of mind
(06:24):
minerals are needed for future evs for them to be
viable options for the masses. This is beyond dispute, and
it's one of the challenges right now as you're seeing
some of these states trying to get out there with
some of these mandates.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Male Room with Dr. Jesse Mills
As Director of The Men’s Clinic at UCLA, Dr. Jesse Mills has spent his career helping men understand their bodies, their hormones, and their health. Now he’s bringing that expertise to The Male Room — a podcast where data-driven medicine meets common sense. Each episode separates fact from hype, science from snake oil, and gives men the tools to live longer, stronger, and happier lives. With candor, humor, and real-world experience from the exam room and the operating room, Dr. Mills breaks down the latest health headlines, dissects trends, and explains what actually works — and what doesn’t. Smart, straightforward, and entertaining, The Male Room is the show that helps men take charge of their health without the jargon.