ARE LITHIUM BATTERIES THE ANSWER?

With the need to meet emissions targets coming up fast, the march towards electric vehicles is moving on apace. The UK government has even offered huge subsidies to Jaguar Land Rover, Tata, to secure an electric car battery production plant in Somerset for example. But are lithium car batteries really the sole solution to pollution? The raw materials required for the manufacture of the batteries - lithium for example - are a problem in themselves.

The Climate and Community Project has written a recent report entitled 'Achieving Zero Emissions with More Mobility and Less Mining' and it is a bit of a sobering read in places.

The rise in sales and popularity of electric vehicles is necessitating a boom in lithium mining to power them, but again, like fossil fuels, there isn't an inexhaustible supply of lithium on the planet.  Estimates put the amount of lithium deposited under the Earth's surface, at around 88 million tonnes, but not all of it is easily accessible - in fact probably only about a quarter of what's there is within reach of mining. Lithium car batteries, for cars like the Tesla Plaid S for example, are thought to use around 62kg of lithium, making the amounts needed, versus the amounts available, not add up when thinking about a mass production scenario, so is a reset, now feeling like a necessity? If every car was to be converted to an electric machine, the planet would be devastated by the mining required to provide that amount of lithium, so it looks un-viable on a large scale.

Lithium is mined in a variety of ways, one of the most damaging to the environment is brine extraction where water with salt is poured into pools and allowed to evaporate, leaving the salts and lithium behind. The result is not only lithium though, a cocktail of toxic chemical residue is also left which can then seep into the water courses, killing everything which needs to drink the water, poisoning the soil for agriculture and becoming an airborne health hazard.

Motorcycles, on the other hand, don't need batteries nearly as large as the huge Tesla battery. Even the larger electric motorcycles only use batteries about 22.5kWh in size, so a motorcycle, instead of a car, is actually a winner environmentally.

Having said that, is an increasing reliance on batteries really a viable and environmentally friendly way for the planet to go? Although electric vehicles would mean cleaner air and less CO2 in the atmosphere, there are other environmental consequences to be considered. Putting all our eggs in one basket, when there are just so very many people on the planet wanting transport, seems rash - a broad spread of alternative fuels - hydrogen perhaps as a contender, would be better if it is possible.

We shall see what happens. What do you think about this - any great solutions to offer? Let us know: [email protected] or on Facebook