Phyllis A. McKenna | Electric Vehicles and the Environment

Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor
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One of our greatest freedoms we have besides The Bill of Rights is our ability to step out into our garage or driveway, get into our car and go anywhere, anytime, whenever we please. We do have to do basic maintenance like keeping the radiator filled with water, oil changes and so forth. Filling the tank with gasoline and washing the windshields takes about 15 minutes at most.

A friend of mine told me her neighbor had to recharge her Tesla twice on the way to Mammoth if she was running the air conditioner in the summer or the heater in winter. This is anecdotal, of course, but since that time I have noted on several occasions, drivers of Teslas driving in 100-degree weather with their windows down. Strange, it would seem.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti purchased 150 electric-powered police vehicles recently. They were BMWs as I remember, but because of the brown-outs we had in the summer he could not keep them charged and he had to turn them back in. The city has also purchased several electric buses at the cost of $600,000 to $750,000 but they are having difficulty keeping them in service for various reasons. One bus has been waiting 275 days just for parts before it can be put back in service. 

One of the goals of the progressive left has been to put us all in electric vehicles by 2030 or 2035. They are also planning to have all trucks entering the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to be electric. I wonder how long it would take to recharge the batteries of electric trucks and I don’t remember seeing very many charging stations as I drove cross country not too recently. Great way to shut down commerce.

There are several reasons not to get on the electric vehicle bandwagon. First, all they are very expensive and we do not want them. And what is to be done with all of the gas-powered vehicles? Second, where does electricity come from? Mainly from the evil fossil fuel, coal. Good luck if you counted on wind power and solar. All of the windmills in Texas froze up last year. Wind and solar couldn’t keep the lights on in California, let alone all of the electric cars. Third, The typical electric car contains six times more minerals than a gas-powered car, according to the International Energy Agency.

Some 70% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is heavily reliant on child labor, much of it reportedly forced. The left’s “sustainable” and “clean energy” electric vehicles are built on the backs of children of color, essentially slaves. Regarding lithium: The U.S. has some of the world’s largest lithium reserves, but we only have one mine. Nevada’s Silver Peak produces just 5,000 tons of lithium a year, less than 2% of the world’s supply. U.S. importers are able to exploit the lax environmental laws in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

Lithium mining uses enormous amounts of water in areas that can little afford it. Telecom TV described what other countries go through so American liberals can drive with net zero carbon pride. Lithium extraction is an energy-intensive and polluting process involving toxic chemicals including tens of thousands of tons of sulfuric acid, having the detritus of hazard waste and massive spoil heaps that can affect localities for generations after mining has ceased, including contamination of groundwater. Also, lithium battery disposal can be very dangerous, causing fires and contamination.

Nickel, the most expensive material in electric vehicles after cobalt, is processed far away from prying environmental regulators: In Indonesia. TDTechEx reports that two nickel mining companies in Indonesia use deep sea disposal for millions of tons of raw waste material. This undermines the environmentally friendly message of the electric vehicle. Polluting the ocean? 

Presently, electric cars plugged in at night are requiring coal plants to burn more coal to charge them. Americans, think before you buy into the electric vehicle train. It may go over a cliff. 

Phyllis A. McKenna

Stevenson Ranch

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