Society is increasingly embracing electric cars (EVs) as the future of environmentally friendly transportation. While battery-powered cars emit less pollution than their gasoline-powered counterparts, EVs are not as eco-friendly as commonly believed.
The world needs to resist the EV frenzy and instead prioritize the enhancement of environmentally friendly public transportation systems and walkable infrastructure for a sustainable and accessible future for all.
The production of EVs fails to demonstrate a commitment to mitigating the physical and environmental impacts associated with the vehicle manufacturing industry. The estimated carbon footprint of the steel materials used by the world’s top 16 automakers was at least 77 million tonnes of CO2 in 2021 and 74 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022.
In addition to being made of the usual steel and plastics that create pollution, most EVs use lithium-ion batteries that are unethically sourced, which has led to safety and human rights concerns for workers who mine for battery materials like cobalt.
Mines often use child labour to produce bags of cobalt, according to Amnesty International. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s largest cobalt extractor, children work for up to 12 hours a day in the mines, carrying heavy materials for wages as low as $2 per day.
These young workers are deprived of basic protective gear such as gloves, face masks, and other pieces of appropriate work attire and are vulnerable to lung and skin diseases. Subsequently, the cobalt is transferred to mineral processing plants like Huayao, which then distributes it to battery manufacturers supplying multinational corporations such as Apple, Microsoft, Sony and vehicle manufacturers like Volkswagen.
In addition to ethical concerns, mining has negative effects on the surrounding environment, causing deforestation, erosion, and contamination of local streams and wetlands.
Infrastructure that prioritizes cars, including both gasoline-powered vehicles and EVs, also presents significant challenges. Today’s cities are largely designed around cars, with many infrastructure projects catering to vehicular traffic. This leads to the continuous expansion of roads and highways, often resulting in deforestation and the disruption of habitats unable to withstand the impacts of industrialization.
Instead of mass producing EVs, we should promote the best alternative—cycling or walking. Today, people use their cars to travel trivial distances, and developing car-centric infrastructure supports this habit. The environment depends on society getting out of this mindset.
Public transportation will be necessary to cover larger distances. Although there are definite questions to be answered about the environmental impact of buses and rail systems, a large number of people ultimately rely on these systems, and there is ample potential to develop eco-friendly alternatives.
Better public transit systems worldwide could alleviate the need to manufacture millions of cars.
Electric vehicles are not the magic solution. Instead, we need more governments to invest in accessible, cheap, working public transportation and infrastructure that encourages cycling and walking rather than increasing reliance on cars.
Despite being marketed as an environmentally friendly wonder, “green vehicles” still present many flaws. Society can and should do even better in reducing its overall footprint.
