![Picture](/uploads/3/9/9/4/39945357/lafollette-in-cumberland_orig.jpg)
This is Bob La Follette in my home town of Cumberland, Wisconsin, preaching his fire and brimstone politics from the wagon which served as his soapbox. 'Fighting Bob' became governor of Wisconsin in 1900.
Photo courtesy of wisconsinhistory.org.
The Inconvenient Truth Regarding Electric Vehicles: Energy and Raw Materials
In January of 2021 we were exporting oil, and gas was $1.90 per gallon. That was all by design. But the crew now occupying the White House was very clear at the outset about waging war against fossil fuels. They've been true to their word, despite the fact that oil and gas are the lifeblood of the nation, even the world. This is ever more apparent as we now see the Germans are foraging for wood as heating season approaches. The US did a 180 degree turn on 1/21/21 and now, with gas prices at unprecedented highs and runaway inflation, the White House wants to blame others for the consequences of their actions.
As the German philosopher Johann von Goethe said, "The sowing is not as difficult as the reaping."
Just how much strip mining of the earth's crust is needed for the EV industry? I thought it would be interesting to examine the natrual resources needed to build an EV battery. Just one. I did some reading, and was shocked. Did you know ? . . . to manufacture one EV battery, the process requires mining the following from the earth's crust.
- 25 pounds of lithium (extracted from 25,000 pounds of brine)
- 30 pounds of cobalt
- 60 pounds of nickel
- 110 pounds of graphite
- 90 pounds of copper
- 400 pounds of steel, aluminum and plastic
Looking upstream in the process of building one EV battery, an average of 500,000 pounds of the earth's crust must be mined. The energy equivalent of 100 barrels of oil is then needed to manufacture one car battery, once the needed minerals are on hand. All of this to create one battery, capable of storing the energy equivalent of only one barrel of oil. And we're told this is "green technology". Really? *
* source: Manhattan Institute ( https://www.manhattan-institute.org/mines-minerals-and-green-energy-reality-check )