Child slaves working for the cobalt in your batteries

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Some just might like to refer to them as child laborers but when four, eight and eleven year old children being beaten and whipped if they don't produce enough, spill some of the ore, and such like, then they are not laborers but slaves.

In the photo eight-year-old Dorsen is pictured cowering beneath the raised hand of an overseer who warns him not to spill a rock.

And what are they slaving for? So that you can drive an electric car, have a new smartphone every six months, and so forth. They are working for the western world's green energy crusade.

I have said more than once but will say it again and that is that the electric car, and especially its batteries, is not sustainable and it certainly is not ethical, and that includes the Tesla storage batteries for solar and wind home use.

Also with the demand and the cost of cobalt rising astronomically the price of the batteries is not going to come down making for electric cars as cheap as ICE-powered cars; the opposite rather and at what cost other than just the price.

But it is not only cobalt that child slaves are extracting from the earth. Other elements too, and in addition to that child slaves are also involved in large numbers in the “recycling” of E-waste to extract materials for use in smartphones and other electronic devices. The latter is also a very dirty and unhealthy business. But, hey, it's cheaper to use child slaves in foreign countries than to have the recycling, for instance, done at home under stricter conditions.

An army of children, some just four years old, working in the vast polluted mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where toxic red dust burns their eyes, and they run the risk of skin disease and a deadly lung condition. Here, for a wage of just 8p a day, the children are made to check the rocks for the tell-tale chocolate- brown streaks of cobalt – the prized ingredient essential for the batteries that power electric cars.

It is feared that thousands more children could be about to be dragged into this hellish daily existence after the historic pledge made by Britain – and other countries – to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2040 (or even before, as in the case of some other nations) and switch to electric vehicles.

Almost every big motor manufacturer striving to produce millions of electric vehicles buys its cobalt from the impoverished central African state. It is the world's biggest producer, with 60 per cent of the Planet's reserves.

The cobalt is mined by unregulated labor and transported to Asia where battery manufacturers use it to make their products lighter, longer-lasting and rechargeable.

The planned switch to clean energy vehicles has led to an extraordinary surge in demand. While a smartphone battery uses no more than 10 grams of refined cobalt, an electric car needs 15kg (33lb).

While the race to change from ICE-powered vehicles to electric ones may herald a future of clean energy, free from pollution but such ideals mean nothing for the children condemned to a life of hellish misery in the race to achieve his target.

We need to rethink how we drive and so on and also how we use energy and in which form.

© 2018

UK government pledges bold ambition for electric cars

Government reaffirms UK’s commitment for almost all cars and vans to be zero emission by 2050 at Paris COP21 conference.

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

On December 3, 2015, the UK government has continued to lead global efforts to cut vehicle emissions at the international climate conference in Paris.

The UK was one of 13 international members of the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Alliance to sign a commitment to promote cleaner motoring and slash transport emissions, alongside Germany, Holland, Norway and California. It includes an agreement to make all passenger vehicle sales zero emission vehicles by 2050.

Transport Minister Andrew Jones said: “The UK already has the largest market for ultra-low emission vehicles in the EU, and the fourth largest in the world and today’s pledge reaffirms our commitment to ensuring almost every car and van is a zero emission vehicle by 2050.

“Electric cars are greener and cheaper to run and we are making them more affordable, spending more than £600 million between 2015 and 2020 to support the uptake and manufacturing of ultra-low emission vehicles here in the UK.

“By leading international efforts on this issue, we are playing our part in helping achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions of more than 1 billion tonnes per year across the world by 2050.”

The ZEV Alliance formed in September this year with the ambition to increase the global uptake of greener vehicles through international co-operation.

As well as the UK, members include Germany, the Netherlands and Norway in Europe; California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada.

All very nice words and ambitions but no one seems to even look at the problems actually facing electric vehicles. One of them is the rarity of the materials from which the batteries are made and two the fact that fossil fuels will still be needed for the manufacture of the vehicles, as well and especially for the extraction of the rare earths and other raw materials. Thus to actually call them zero-emission vehicles is also rather misleading in the extreme.

None of the governments, NGOs, and what-have-you are, unfortunately, willing to state that motoring, especially the personal motoring with the private motorcar, whether infernal combustion engine or electric motor, is not going to be able to continue and also that electric vehicle technology will not make tractors, combine harvesters, and road haulage trucks feasible. While it does work for small delivery trucks running around our towns and cities the large road haulage of 35 or even 50 tonnes as now envisaged for trucks just is not possible with electric battery-powered motors.

The future of transportation, private, agricultural, and haulage will actually be a re-visitation of the past and I am sure the reader will well know what I mean. However, maybe I must spell it out for the government agencies and NGOs... it is the horse and the bicycle.

If it would not be that sad the way governments and NGOs are being affected by the ostrich syndrome and trying to keep the masses in the dark it would actually be funny and laughable but, alas, it is not.

© 2015

Research reveals insights into the take-up of Electric Vehicles

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

TRL and TNS-BMRB were commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) to undertake an investigation into the responses of early adopters of electric vehicles (EVs) to both the Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG) and Plugged-in Places (PiP) schemes. The research was published this week as part of the Government’s Ultra Low Emission Vehicle Strategy which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/driving-the-future-today-a-strategy-for-ultra-low-emission-vehicles-in-the-uk

The work explored the contribution of these two schemes to the uptake of EVs. Views and experiences were sought from both individuals and organizations as to their experience of buying, owning and using EVs. In addition, the barriers to adoption were also investigated, by obtaining the views of those who had recently bought a vehicle other than an EV.

The research was conducted in two strands: firstly, a quantitative survey to provide new data on the characteristics and charging behavior of private and organizational EV users. Secondly, qualitative research aimed at providing an in-depth understanding of the influence of the PiCG and the PiP scheme on the car purchasing decisions of both groups; the barriers to EV purchase, and factors that influence the driving and charging behavior of EV users.

The study identified that the PiCG was important in EV purchase decision; with over 85% of respondents deeming it important. Those who has purchased EVs felt the amount (£5,000 or 25% of the vehicle price, whichever is the lower) to be appropriate, and improved the affordability of EVs. Most non-EV owners were, however, unaware of the PiCG and it was recommended that a marketing strategy be developed to publicize the PiCG more widely.

Around 40% felt that public charging infrastructure was important in their decision to purchase an EV and many expressed a desire for there to be a more useable network of public charge points. They pointed to a lack of compatibility between different charge point providers as being confusing and frustrating for EV purchasers and users.

One of the main barriers to EV take-up was identified as lack of knowledge relating to many aspects of purchasing and using EVs, as well as the current range of the vehicles. Non-EV purchasers were concerned about the range that an EV could achieve, whilst EV owners did acknowledge that concerns over the range the vehicles could achieve had presented them with challenges as users. Finally, amongst non-EV owners, the purchase cost of the EV was also considered to be a barrier. Even with the reduction offered by the PiCG, EVs were often deemed unaffordable.

The full TRL report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236748/research-report.pdf

The problems with electric vehicles (EVs) is and remain the same regardless of what research and governments and that is that:

1. The are expensive to buy and the costs for them will only go up and not down as rare earth, etc. become more expensive and also energy for production.

2. Batteries have a very limited lifespan as do all and are about two-thirds to three-quarters of the cost of a vehicle for replacement and will need replacing about every three or so years.

3. The emissions created in manufacture and use may actually be higher even – despite of the fact that none being emitted by the vehicle itself during use – than those of cars and trucks with internal combustion engines.

4. The mining of the rare earth, rare and other metals, etc. for the building of EVs puts a serious strain on the environment.

And neither of those factors are considered and put into the equation when EVs are being promoted by industry, governments and even green groups as the answer to climate change. Electric vehicles are not going to save us. Only a total change in our use of personal transportation will, combined with other changes.

One can, therefore, but wonder whether the manufacturers of brown envelopes have had a field day once again. EVs are not carbon neutral, not even ultra low emission, if all factors are taken into account. Far from it, actually. So, why the lies. Think about it!

© 2013

Lifespan of lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Given that frequently recharged lithium-ion batteries – as for e-cigarettes, for example – seems to last only a rather short time (in the case of e-cigarettes no more than a few months) the question is how will then those in electronic vehicles hold up.

When considering that replacement batteries for laptops and Netbooks, as well as cell phones, rum to almost a third of the cost of the device it stands to reason to ask what cost, in proportion, a replacement battery for an EV would be.

If the ratio of cost and lifespan does not improve then, in my opinion, the electric vehicle just does not and will not compute and is doomed to failure, in the long run.

Looking at it from the battery point alone with regards to lifespan and replacement cost electric vehicles, I am afraid, are not going to cut it (in the long run). Who would be able to spend a third of the price of the car on a new battery about every year or two?

Hybrids and cars on biofuel also will not do it in the long run as, once the oil is gone, the cheap and abundant oil at least, we just will not have the energy to make all those things, and we will especially not be able to mass produce cars cheaply, cars of any kind.

The future of transportation, and I hate to be a spoilsport, and of travel on a personal level, for the average person, is going to be, once again, walking and cycling and, maybe, if you are lucky, horse and buggy.

The time of personal motorized transport for the masses is coming to an end. This will be a good thing in the end for pollution will fall of rapidly and obesity also will come to an end.

The Planet and everyone else will be healthier...

© 2011