IS THE ELECTRIC CAR AN ECOLOGICAL SOLUTION? YES OR NO?

Is the electric car a truly clean and environmentally friendly solution?

The “official” speech on electric cars maintains that it actually is a perfect private transport option: it would be a clean, green, easy and even “cheap” way from the point of view of its impact in the environment.

So accepted is the speech that defends the goodness of the electric car, that those who buy it get to change their transportation habits:

It has been proven that whoever changes their petrol car to an electric one stops using public transport (or uses it less) because they “feel” that using their electric car is a perfectly ecological, sustainable and environmentally friendly activity.

And this is not the case since, for the moment, the electric car is not, in the first place, a “zero emissions” vehicle.

You’ve read well: The electric car may one day come to its fullest extent, but for now, we can be definitive and say that the electric car unfortunately pollutes, and, in fact, a lot.

The electric car unfortunately pollutes, and, in fact, a lot

Let’s begin by considering the battery manufacturing of the electric vehicles.

To produce them, it is necessary to extract metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese and lithium, and the environmental impact of the extraction is very high and destructive.

Plus, when the battery must be replaced, only a small part of these metals can possibly be recoverable, and the rest gets incinerated (it is “lost” and pollutes).

Not only the mineral extraction, the battery manufacturing, their recycling or incinerating entails big CO2 and other harmful gas emissions, but also the generation of electricity with which we feed the vehicle has a huge impact on the environment.

As long as the renewable energies are not the primary or exclusive source of energy, the electric cars will keep polluting.

So, is there no solution? Does it matter if we do one thing or the other?

Pay attention, of course there is a “solution”, but it is neither “easy” nor simple nor necessarily comfortable.

What can we do?

Let’s change our habits (not just with the car) and demand the companies and politicians to change strategies and laws.

Park the car (electric or combustion) and use public and collective transport.

Choose politicians who promote clean energy by law and invest our tax money in good public transport that will allow us to live without a car (or almost).

Demand in our cities greener spaces and pedestrians.

Contract the services of companies that assure us that the energy they sell comes from renewable energy.

Trust only in the companies that show responsibility for recycling what they manufacture and that adhere to strict environmental protocols.

The solution is not in the cars, the solution is in us.