To the American people,

Electric vehicles are cars that solely run on lithium ion cells powering a stator-rotor power system. Initially, they were the first type of car, but due to production complications, the ICU engine became the more common type of car. Although electric vehicles are often touted as a solution to climate change, they are not a panacea and may cause more harm than good in the long run due to their high production emissions, strain on the power grid, and a lack of a comprehensive recycling plan for their batteries.

A huge portion of the population, especially in Northwest Europe, is under the common notion that EVs are overall better for the environment than ICU engine cars (aka normal cars). Although they don’t directly emit greenhouse gasses like CO2 and CO, the mining process for their batteries quickly balances out the eco-friendly part of EVS. According to earth.org, 46% of total EV emissions are from production, unlike 26% for gasoline cars. That’s excluding transportation of the battery materials, the manufacturing of the batteries, the manufacturing of the car body, the electricity made in coal power plants, to charge the batteries, and so on. First, according to sustainabilitybynumbers.com, it takes a massive army of pretty much enslaved children in the DRC to get the necessary amount of lithium and cobalt for a single car. Then, all that cobalt and lithium will get transported from the mine by those building-sized yellow trucks that look like Tonka toys into many smaller gas-burning trucks or coal-burning trains in Australia, China, Argentina, Chile, Wyoming, etc. Then, if the EV corporations wish to ship those materials to a certain country, they’ll have them loaded into massive gas-turbine planes, and massive amounts of it for even small flights. After that, who can forget about the electricity for the cars being produced in coal-burning plants? According to theguardian.com, even in California, 60% of the electric grid is powered by coal while less than 14% is powered by solar and wind combined.

Speaking of electricity for the cars, their power needs actually overwhelm electric grids. According to the Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, EVs will add stress to the local power grid. A real life example is when in 2023, the power grid of California was dramatically overwhelmed by excessive usage. If we increase the number of electric cars, the WECC will either have to sacrifice electricity for other things like grocery stores or decide to attempt to support both EVs and other electricity guzzlers and eventually collapse. A lot of people are considering using solar panels to charge their EV. However, most places where the sun shines enough for that have populations where people can’t afford solar panels, let alone expensive electric vehicles. For example, According to worldpopulationreview.com and vividmaps.com, Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and more, are warm regions in which the average person cannot afford a Tesla, while places like Europe, North America, and Northeast Asia are places where a normal person can buy a very low-end EV, but there is less sunshine and a higher chance of bad weather that could block out the sun like rain or snow. This shows that places where EVs are affordable will have a very hard time supporting the energy needs of EVs.

It’s not just the production and usage of EVs that are bad. According to greencars.com, the improper disposal of EV batteries leads to the soaking of toxic chemicals like lead, copper, and lithium into our groundwater supplies. They seep into the soil through pores and pollute our biggest source of water. There is also no good recycling plan for these poisonous EV batteries. The whole purpose of the popularization of EVs in the 90s and 2000s stemming from the gas crisis and the 1992 energy policy act, According to energy.gov, was to reduce the carbon footprint on the environment, yet their improper waste disposal will further damage the environment we are trying to protect. If you think about the soil, the pollution has become so bad that according to natgeographic.co.uk, even fruits and vegetables are much less nutritious today than several decades ago. The improper disposal of batteries will worsen this issue, especially considering that there are no easy, intuitive recycling processes anywhere in the world. ICU engine cars do not have this issue, showing that they outperform EVs in terms of being eco-friendly.

Overall, EVs out-pollute ICU cars in production, put a strain on the electric grid, and cause serious environmental harm by not coming up with a method to safely dispose of their batteries. EVs are ironic in purpose and the narrative about their superiority over ICU engines pushed on westerners since the 90s and 2000s are misguided.

- Siddharth M.