by Turd Ferguson, TF Metals Report:
I’m going to be unavailable for most of the morning so I thought it would be a great time to share with you this fantastic “guest post” from one of your valued site members.
Many of you may recognize this comment/post from the Dave Collum thread two weeks ago. However and as we all know, sometimes great posts can get washed down the page and missed. As such, here’s a second chance to check it out.
I’ll try to stop by this thread’s comments section from time to time this morning to add thoughts on the intraday PM action as well as other news. In the meantime, please enjoy something a little different from the same old, same old PM commentary.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
Thanks to metallionaire for this great work!
TF
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“The All-in Sustaining Costs of Electric Vehicles”, by metallionaire
Governments tell us, relentlessly, that EVs are beneficial and their widespread use will be a major factor in alleviating the pending climate crisis (assuming there is one). This initiative is so vital, we are told, that governments have mandated ever-increasing production levels in the years ahead – the stated goal being to replace all internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle production within the next decade or so. While it may seem, at first glance, to be a good idea, there are many issues and secondary-level considerations that are being conveniently omitted from the discussion.
If EVs are so superior to ICE vehicles, I ask myself, why do governments feel it necessary to mandate their increasing production and adoption? Governments only seem to mandate things which people would otherwise avoid (think vaccines?). No one mandated the adoption of the internet, smart phones, or flat-screen TV’s. The advantages they offered were so obvious that people lined up voluntarily to buy them and they quickly gained widespread adoption. If EVs are such a great invention, then, surely, the public would enthusiastically adopt them without massive government subsidies and coercive policies?
Let us begin our investigation by examining the broader lithium market, which is an essential linchpin of EV production. As it turns out, more than half of the current lithium reserves used in the batteries of EVs comes from the salt flats of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Most of these reserves are located in the salt brine ponds of the Atacama Desert and similar geological locations in South America. As luck would have it, the Atacama Desert is the location where several indigenous tribes have lived for countless generations and also happens to be one of the driest places on Earth. Ironically, lithium is mined by a process of pumping salty lithium-containing water into ponds and using evaporation to extract the lithium. As a result, the local water resources, as scarce as they already were, are being repurposed and contaminated to extract the lithium we use for EV’s in the name of saving the planet. How ironic! I read recently, but can no longer find the link to the article, that suggested they are attempting to get an exemption to mine Lithium in a world-recognized biodiversity zone of Chile. Apparently, we have to kill the planet to save it.
The estimated known reserves of lithium vary from one analyst to another but it is generally believed to be in the order of 17 to 22 million tonnes. A Tesla Model 3 uses about 65 kilograms of lithium so, if all known reserves are allocated exclusively toward building such vehicles, there is enough mineral to make about 250-320 million cars. The International Energy Agency states that to meet a net zero scenario by 2050, at least 300 million vehicles will be needed by 2030! In other words, if the entire known lithium reserves are mined and utilized, we barely have enough to get to 2030 production expectations. To continue manufacturing beyond that date, we will need to find and extract massive new reserves that are still unknown, assuming they even exist. It is noteworthy that EV batteries also consume large quantities of cobalt and nickel and massive reserves will need to be located for those elements as well. All in all, it requires an incredible 500,000 lbs of the Earth’s crust to be dug out and processed to make the battery pack for just one EV.
If we cast a wider net, lithium-ion batteries are also used in a wide array of consumer products including portable tools, lawn care equipment and other appliances and some reserves must be allocated to these, as well. Further, it is estimated that 98% of the batteries used in these devices end up in landfills, posing a huge safety and environmental risk. When exposed to the elements over time, these batteries can leak dangerous contaminants, including chemicals we have not mentioned, and pose a significant risk of underground fires that burn with intense heat that cannot be extinguished by normal methods. Often these burn in underground cavities in landfills for weeks or months, causing dangerous hollows in the landfill while leaching untold carcinogens and toxic chemicals into the atmosphere and underground aquifers. German officials have reported that 90% of the fires that occurred at their landfill sites in 2020 were the result of defective lithium-ion batteries.
Read More @ TFMetalsReport.com
