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NYT exposes EV ‘green’ fraud: ‘More than 70% of world’s cobalt…the blood diamond of electric vehicle batteries, comes from Democratic Republic of Congo, where child labor & sexual violence are rampant in mines’
Out of sight, out of mind.
It’s that simple.
I’ll anticipate another of Paul Homewood’s blog posts being picked up by WUWT, but credit really must go to the few Daily Telegraph journalist’s continuing the crusade the late Christopher Booker heroically campaigned alone for many years.
Heads should roll over the electric car fiasco
July 27, 2024
Go to Homewood’s site Notalotofpeopleknowthat to read the article (without the graphics) as the Daily Telegraph is behind a paywall.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/07/27/heads-should-roll-over-the-electric-car-fiasco/
If you disable JavaScript the Telegraphs paywall mostly vanishes
PS the Telegraph article deserves a story tip.
Just use Firefox and grab the paywall extension and it sorts it out for you.
But frankly, it’s easier just to read it on Paul’s site than explain every option to avoid the DT’s paywall.
I came here to report the Telegraph article but HotScot beat me to it! I would make one comment – not much is said in the article about the cheap Chinese EVs poised to flood the market, but this may be more a strategic move than a commercial one; even if they make a loss on the project it would be worth it to kill off the western motor industry. Perhaps western governments need no help to achieve this though!
Whatever the cost to China, its likely cheaper for the result than a war.
The Chinese are selling ICE cars in Russia since sanctions were imposed, like no tomorrow.
The Chinese don’t need to worry too much about selling EV’s to the west. They have a 1.4 billion population, more than the US (350m?) and Europe (750m) combined.
1.6M EV’s sold in the US in 2023 and about 1.8M sold in the EU. Almost none were Chinese.
This will be a good omen for Edstone M. Just as he’s getting his feet under the desk the EV market is falling apart. Less vehicles on the road.
But Elon Musk says he is doing more than anyone else to prevent climate change….and he says he is not in favor of government subsidies for EVs after he has benefited from it for years. China has a huge hidden polluted lake from battery production.
Musk says he is doing more than anyone else to prevent climate change….
And yet he runs SpaceX. Fork tongue speaks in my opinion
Musk recently made a $ignificant political contribution to Trump.
Money talks the Left walks..
“China has a huge hidden polluted lake from battery production.”
And even huger ones from manufacturing magnets for wind turbines. !
Baotou is hardly hidden. Though I do have to say it is largely unknown to the West, since its existence isn’t trumpeted either — though it should be, to show how awful it is.
If the lake is hidden, how do you know about it? 😄
The whole inconvenient truth.
The utility grid storage and EV industries are rapidly moving to LFP batteries which contain no cobalt.
They are also cheaper, heavier, can be made to charge faster, are less flammable, and can be designed for a 20 service life.
Sorry, no sale.
Are they remotely suitable for EV’s?
Heavier…
I doubt it
Somewhere around twice as heavy for any given power capacity. Seems tough for an EV.
It does seem that the main disadvantage of LFP batteries is their lower energy density, but this is being addressed. Below is a site which provides some useful information about the qualities, advantages and disadvantages of the LFP battery.
A much lower risk of combustion, greater durability, greater number of recharge cycles, higher power density, enabling them to deliver a significant amount of power quickly and making them suitable for applications that require rapid energy discharge, a wider temperature range tolerance, allowing them to operate efficiently in harsh environments with extreme temperatures, and a lower cost, are the main advantages. However, the Chinese company, CATL claims it has improved the energy density of its most recent LFP battery which can provide a 1,000km range on a full charge which takes about 17 minutes.
“LiFePO4 Battery: A Comprehensive Introduction in 2024”
https://www.neware-usa.com/news/neware_news/LiFePO4_Battery/69.html
“They offer a lower energy density compared to other lithium-ion chemistries, such as Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) or Nickel Cobalt Aluminum (NCA), but their enhanced safety profile and longer lifespan make them particularly attractive for certain applications.”
“In the automotive sector, LFP batteries are extensively used by leading EV manufacturers like Tesla and BYD. Tesla, for instance, has integrated LFP batteries in its standard range Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. This strategic move allows Tesla to offer a more affordable option while ensuring safety and longevity, especially appealing in markets with less developed charging infrastructure. “
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/04/29/catl-presents-ev-battery-with-1000-km-range/
“Chinese battery manufacturer CATL presented its new Shenxing Plus LFP battery at the ongoing Auto China 2024 trade fair in Beijing.
The energy density is also higher due to the improved battery architecture. The battery housing, which consists of a single block, is adapted to the structure of the cells. This enabled CATL engineers to accommodate more storage capacity in the volume of the case.
CATL said the gravimetric energy density of the new product is 205 Wh per kg. By comparison, current LFP batteries achieve around 190 Wh per kg.”
This is the killer bit:
“However, the Chinese company, CATL claims it has improved the energy density of its most recent LFP battery which can provide a 1,000km range on a full charge which takes about 17 minutes.”
It’s not how fast the battery can charge that counts, it’s what charge is available that counts.
If you only have a domestic charger, it will take the time the domestic charger takes to charge any other EV.
If You have a domestic supply that can provide a charging rate high enough to charge the battery in 17 minutes it’s likely you are going to shut the power off for the rest of your neighbourhood.
Go to a Tesla supercharging station and assuming you have the only car onsite, maybe you can charge it that fast, but when another EV turns up your supply drops.
This idea of super fast charging EV’s is a gimmick.
A reliable and affordable electricity supply is another issue which technology can address. If fast chargers overload the electricity system, their use will be limited to essential services, such as emergency ambulances, until the system has been improved, perhaps by using a near-by nuclear power plant to provide the electricity.
For those who live in houses instead of apartment buildings, a slow charge overnight will be a better option, and a 1,000 KM range should remove any worries about being stranded due to a flat battery.
Also, with no risk of spontaneous combustion, the total advantages of the latest LFP batteries outweigh the lower energy density which is now not nearly as low as half the energy density of Lithium Ion batteries, as claimed by Denis a few posts above.
You really don’t get it do you? A slow domestic charge means a longer charging time to achieve 1,000km range. You need a certain amount of energy to push a collection of metals and plastics along a road at a given speed. That will never change.
It won’t be an overnight charge, it will be a week long charge.
You seem to expect society to change for the sake of EV’s.
How fast the battery charges has implications for the electricity infrastructure.
I recently had my first experience with an EV (Mach e), and the ridiculous amount of time needed to charge it became apparent. 40 minutes to get about 50% is not a selling point to people who value their time.
If you value your time then you should organize your activities in order to make the best use of your time. Whether you’re driving an ICE vehicle or a BEV, you always know how many miles or kms you can drive before you need a fill-up or a recharge, unless you have an old ICE vehicle.
If you’re driving an BEV on a long journey, it should be obvious that you will need a recharge at some time, so, if you’re sensible, and value your time, then take a book to read whilst your vehicle is charging, or choose a place where you can go for a nice walk in beautiful arroundings, or a place where you can have a nice meal, whilst your vehicle is charging.
I get the impression that many so-called climate change skeptics, or should I say, ‘anthropogenically-caused climate change deniers’, seem to be stuck in their ways and refuse to change or adapt.
You seem to forget the effect of driver fatigue.
Anything that makes a long distance drive take more time increases the risk of accident, regardless of vehicle. Having to spend 1-2 hours recharging rather than 15 minutes filling up and having to recharge more frequently than topping off the gas tank accumulates driver fatigue regardless of your so called beneficial planning.
In addition, leaving your car, or better stated abandoning your car, so you can have a meal will probably cost you a charging cable and then what?
It’s a vicious circle,
heavier -> more power -> bigger battery -> heavier
Nope
Specific energy (i.e. w-hrs/kg or w-hrs/lb) is no where near as important for utility applications as it is for EV’s, so the cost savings, higher specific power and lower flammability would make LFP a no-brainer for utility scale applications. One downside is the relative lack of domestic manufacturing capacity.
LFP for EV’s would make sense for a commuter vehicle, but not so much for an all-around ICE replacement.
How rapidly is “rapidly” please.
They are cheaper, heavier can be made to charge faster are less flammable, can be designed for a 20 year life and, crucially. they don’t hold as much of a charge as Li-ion so range is again compromised further.
Sorry, but you can’t have it all.
A 20 year life also has a reliability associated with it, aka a failure rate. What is the failure rate at 10 years, 15 years, 20 years?
And nuclear fusion is just five years away.
WHAT was ‘all the rage’ of concern among high society awhile back – was it ‘blood diamonds’?
Related: conflict diamonds.
Virtue Signaling.
Story tip – Face It: EVs are EVil – PJ Media
The technology behind the production of EVs, which I regard as EVil, is in my estimation at least 10 years away from perfectibility. Meanwhile, EVs comprise a technical hazard, a convenience disaster, an energy cannibal, a financial liability, and a moral ignominy.
To achieve net-zero emissions, “green” policymakers are supporting the continuation of subsidies to go “green” and providing financial encouragement for China and Africa to CONTINUE exploiting “their” poor with yellow, brown, and black skin, and financially supporting the environmental degradation to “their” landscapes, just to support an all-electric military vehicle fleet for America.
The 2022 Pulitzer Prize nominated book ““Clean Energy Exploitations”, provides transparency to the environmental degradation and humanity atrocities occurring in developing countries mining for those exotic minerals and metals to support the “green” movement. Subsidies to purchase EV’s are financial incentives to encourage further exploitations of yellow, brown, and black skin residents in developing countries.
It’s a tough problem…through our media magic mirrors, we don’t see or understand those parents and children work in artisanal mining so that their families don’t starve to death. What we see as modern mining methods just results in more deaths.
“More than 70% of world’s cobalt…the blood diamond of electric vehicle batteries, comes from Democratic Republic of Congo, where child labor & sexual violence are rampant in mines”
But … but … it’s all to promote “Climate Justice” so it must be OK. Right?
I don’t dispute anything in this article but I am not comfortable with what appears to be an AI generated image of children put to work. It undermines the message.and invites charges of trickery. Five seconds using Google image search produced a horrifying number of authentic images, and the reality is more moving.
cobalt?
look heres a clue.
if you see the name steve milloy check twice!!!!
next clue. genius elon is not going to bet his future on problematic sources
https://electrek.co/2022/04/22/tesla-using-cobalt-free-lfp-batteries-in-half-new-cars-produced/
clue 3. CHINA knows more than milloy and you
https://electrek.co/2024/05/17/china-first-large-scale-sodium-ion-battery/#:~:text=The%20state%20utility%20says%20the,of%20clean%20energy%20each%20year.
fossil fuels are dead and market forces will reshape the grid. you’ll pay less whn power is in surplus and more when the wind isnt blowing.
you’ll use grid batteries and like it
There goes freedom. Le poof!
If market forces recognized the cost benefits then we would already have these technologies.
Electric vehicles in one form or another have been around for over a century.
Wind mills and solar cells have been around for over 50 years.