Category: Emergent Topics

True cost of EVs

A student asked for this so… This is a Tesla model Y battery. It takes up all of the space under the passenger compartment of the car. Yes if we measure the carbon footprint of an EV on a car lot moving forward it is far less than a gas car but that is misleading – see statistics below picture. No photo description available.

To manufacture the battery above you need:
–12 tons of rock for Lithium
— 5 tons of cobalt minerals (Most cobalt is made
as a byproduct of the processing of copper
and nickel ores. It is the most difficult material
to obtain for a battery and the most
expensive.)
— 3 tons nickel ore
— 12 tons of copper ore
You must move 250 tons of soil to obtain:
— 26.5 pounds of Lithium
— 30 pounds of nickel
— 48.5 pounds of manganese
— 15 pounds of cobalt
To manufacture the battery also requires:
— 441 pounds of aluminum, steel and/or plastic
— 112 pounds of graphite
The Caterpillar 994A used for the earthmoving to obtain the essential mineral consumes 264 gallons of diesel in 12 hours.
The battery weighs 1,000 pounds (you can imagine the shipping cost).
It takes seven years for an electric car to reach net-zero CO2 or equivalently ~80,000 miles and many EVs need a new battery at this juncture. The life expectancy of the batteries is 10 years (average). Then the batteries have to be replaced regardless and you lose all the CO2 gains you made if you made gains at all.
Presently, the bulk of the necessary minerals for manufacturing the batteries come from China or Africa. Much of the labor for getting the minerals in Africa is done by children and China is the main economic beneficiary when purchasing an electric car.
Note I did not discuss the necessary grid (which is above ground unlike Europe and susceptible to environmental/terrorist events) nor their applicability in the cold northeast where in the Adirondacks, we get 10-15 days of -10 degrees F substantially decreasing the range and these batteries will not charge at all below 0 degrees F.
Note – I am a strong advocate of hybrid cars if you can afford it as the CO2 crossover point is ~3-5 years.

Dozens of states sue Meta alleging social media ‘profoundly altered’ mental, social realties of American youth

Source: Dozens of states sue Meta alleging social media ‘profoundly altered’ mental, social realties of American youth

The 228-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claims that Meta’s business model specifically targets young users, monetizing their attention through data harvesting and targeting advertising and deploying features to prolong their time on social media for profit.

“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” the complaint says. “Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its Social Media Platforms. It has concealed the ways in which these Platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children. And it has ignored the sweeping damage these Platforms have caused to the mental and physical health of our nation’s youth. In doing so, Meta engaged in, and continues to engage in, deceptive and unlawful conduct in violation of state and federal law.”