Electric vehicles, yes or no. Interesting video

[Stanglover]

This video pretty much sums up my thoughts on how we're being manipulated into buying electric vehicles before the time is right for them.
The impact on the planet for mining the Lithium and rare earth materials need in batteries and high efficiency electric motors, has been kept from us and the media is keeping this quite.
Are Electric cars in our future? absolutely, but not in our lifetime. (that is, us old farts) As "Ted" says, Hybrids are the first step.

 

[MikeGriese]

A couple of things. This video is 3 years old. A lot has changed in that time. First, lithium prices are going down - there is now more lithium supply than there is demand. Extraction is more efficient and lithium can be (and is) recycled. The recovery and reuse process is also now more efficient. Additionally, there have been announcements of new battery technologies that don't rely on rare earth elements like lithium that are beginning to come online. These technologies will be used in personal electronics first (laptops, phones, tablets) before graduating to vehicles, which will free up more lithium for vehicle use.

There are also improvement in motor technology, battery management, and charging technologies that will improve range beyond any improvements in battery technology.

There are a lot of really smart people working for auto companies on electric transportation. If they thought electrification wasn't ready, they wouldn't be doing it. There is also immensely greater development potential for electric vehicles than there is for internal combustion engines, which means that a dollar spent on electrification will return way more than a dollar spent on ICE.

 

[Spike Morelli]

Hmmmmmm......Not that I'm an Old Dog who can't be taught a new trick, but, as long as cool vehicles with internal combustion engines exist, I will be drawn to own that. So....where do you mount the 6-71 supercharger and Hilborn Injection when you have an electric motor?

 

[jpaz]

Not for me!

 

[Stanglover]

A couple of things. This video is 3 years old. A lot has changed in that time. First, lithium prices are going down - there is now more lithium supply than there is demand. Extraction is more efficient and lithium can be (and is) recycled. The recovery and reuse process is also now more efficient. Additionally, there have been announcements of new battery technologies that don't rely on rare earth elements like lithium that are beginning to come online. These technologies will be used in personal electronics first (laptops, phones, tablets) before graduating to vehicles, which will free up more lithium for vehicle use.

There are also improvement in motor technology, battery management, and charging technologies that will improve range beyond any improvements in battery technology.

There are a lot of really smart people working for auto companies on electric transportation. If they thought electrification wasn't ready, they wouldn't be doing it. There is also immensely greater development potential for electric vehicles than there is for internal combustion engines, which means that a dollar spent on electrification will return way more than a dollar spent on ICE.

Mike, Yes I know the video is old and been around before. Yes I know technology has advanced and will continue to advance in all areas. That's not the argument and you raise some very good points. What that video say to me is yes we will move to electric vehicles, but the public are not been told the truth about the process of mining and refining the material needed and the impact on our environment.
Case in point; in northern Ontario, Canada, there are vast peat bog areas (wetlands). These bogs are a sink for trillions of tons of carbon. Under those bogs are believed to be vast amounts of Lithium and other highly sort after minerals. The government is planning on building access roads into those bogs, which are akin to the Amazon rain forest, to strip and mine those minerals, releasing much of that carbon. This is fact. I'm not a tree hugger by a long shot, but that is just wrong.
In Canada, there is a huge Lithium mine that is owned by the Chinese (how the hell that was allowed is another subject) and EVERY bit of Lithium mined is shipped to China. This also is fact.
What I'm saying is we are not quite there yet. Hydrogen fuel cells were being worked on 40 years ago, lead by Toyota. That technology has greater promise for a cleaner environment, but again it will be many years before it is commercially viable.

 

[Gold Rush]

I have a new cordless mower that takes $250.00 dollar batteries. One battery mows 1/4 of my 1/4 acre yard and I have two batteries. If I spend another $500.00 on batteries I could mow without waiting on batteries to charge for an hour apiece. It is quieter than the gasser though. Oh and the electric mower only cost 3 times what an equivalent gas mower cost.