Monday, December 5, 2022

ELECTRIC CARS ARE NOT THE UTOPIAN FUTURE OF MOTORING

Electric cars are not the Utopian future of motoring. They are not an environmentally flawless alternative to vehicles that run on petroleum, diesel and gas. Before you go and spend a small fortune buying one, let's go over a few facts about electric cars which are no secret at all. 


For one - the lithium batteries they use which also contain a very rare mineral called cobalt. Anyone who is considering buying an electric car would only need to look at umpteen videos on YouTube online, showing what "explosion" occurs when any size lithium battery starts on fire, to think - forget it. 


Of course, everyone hopes that they are never involved in a serious accident on the road, but if it sadly ever does occur, you certainly don't want one of these virtual bombs under your bonnet. Trust your intuition on that one. 


Then you have the issue of the rare mineral cobalt, which is primarily only found in the African nation of Congo, the mining of which is very documented and proven to involve some quite appalling child exploitation and slavery, with kids as young as five being paid something like a dollar a day to dig for it with nothing more than a shovel. 


Covered in mud, abused,exhausted and obviously terribly underpaid. That's what a mining conglomerate in Congo is subjecting little kids to, to get cobalt for lithium batteries. 


Then, on an entirely different but just as pertinent subject, there is still the major and yet to be addressed logistical issues involved regarding "recharge stations", simply meaning, electric car drivers getting access to them for the long durations required to recharge the lithium battery, and the lack of infrastructure itself to facilitate having any amount of electric cars on our roads. 


Before electric cars in Australia turn out to be one big cumbersome impractical dilemma, their adoption should be discouraged, not promoted. 


In their own way, they are just as big of an environmental menace as anything to do with oil, petrol or gas. There is also the issue of what to do with electric car batteries once they need replacing. 


They can't be dumped, they have to be stockpiled, for decades, if not hundreds of years. Are you now having second thoughts about electric cars?

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