Why Electric Cars Are NOT The Answer to Climate Change

With climate change becoming a very large problem, most people think that electric cars will be an easy solution, yet it simply isn’t realistic. In the past few years, climate change has become a serious problem. NASA has said that 2024 was the warmest year ever. This looks like it will continue to become an even larger problem affecting everyone. Though electric cars might seem like an easy solution, there is a dark truth about electric cars that isn’t so easy. When making an electric car, one of the most important parts is the battery. Without the battery, the car won’t run. While you might think that a battery is easy to make, it actually isn’t. Batteries are made of cobalt, nickel, and lithium, which are not easy to get and are resource-intensive. These expensive resources are simply not worth it. For example, lithium, one of the key ingredients, costs over 500,000 gallons of water, according to Reuters, to get just one ton of lithium, which can only make 125 EV batteries. Additionally, cobalt is also an important ingredient in making batteries. The leader in cobalt mining, the DRC, relies heavily on child labor to mine their cobalt, This is completely unethical, and if we increase the production of EV batteries, then child labor will increase along with it. 

While people think electric vehicles are much better for the environment than gas cars, they are actually worse for the environment in different ways. People think EVs are an easy way out of climate change, but they actually deeply affect the environment. EV batteries only last between 8 and 15 years. After that, only some batteries are recycled, and when recycling batteries, it becomes a 100-year recycling problem. When they don’t recycle, all the toxic chemicals and materials end up in the landfills. Therefore, when we decide to solve one problem, we cause many more for our future generations to deal with. Electric cars seem to be an easy and quick solution to our global problem, but they aren’t. Not only are they going to damage the environment, but they will additionally take away from the economy. Many small businesses, such as mechanics and gas stations, that rely heavily on gas-powered cars, will face closure as the demand for traditional maintenance services declines. 

People think that electric cars are cheaper, but simply aren’t as accessible. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May 2023, the average salary in the United States was $65,470. Additionally, a report showed that only 60% of Americans can afford an EV. Without careful planning, very few people will be able to purchase these vehicles due to their high upfront costs. People look at stopping the use of gas cars as the only option to solve climate change, but there are other ways that are more realistic. Another issue that we have looked at in the past is deforestation. Deforestation both takes away from our wildlife and contributes to climate change. According to LSE, much of the carbon stored by trees is released into the wild as carbon dioxide, largely contributing to climate change and warming our. Additionally, when we choose deforestation, we take away the homes of millions of animals who chose that area as their habitat. No matter what, cars are bad; whether electric or gas, they won’t be good for the environment no matter what. When we choose electric cars, we are in fact, distracting ourselves from investing in things that would be more practical. The difference between gas cars and electric cars is very minimal; we could instead invest in other things, such as stopping deforestation, as mentioned previously. In conclusion, before you think about buying a Tesla or another electric car just because you think you are helping the environment, think about how you are just creating different problems.