As we sat in a long line waiting to dump some old household items at the recycle center, my son and I got talking about electric cars. He had rented an electric van to load the beat up sofa and a few other things that wouldn't fit in the car. The oddest thing he noted about it was that he couldn't start the van unless he had his seatbelt on. Otherwise, he was fine with it. He was fiddling with all the options on the dash display as we itched along the line, turning the engine off during the breaks so as not to lose too much of the charge.
He brought up a good point. Where is all this lithium going to come from to replace all the internal combustion engines on the road? As it is, lithium is a pretty limited resource. I noted that the lithium-ion batteries often outlast the cars but he said the batteries pose a real danger, noting the recent carpark fire at London's Luton Airport was the result of an electric car. The battery reaches a heat of 3000 degrees Celsius, which literally burns through reinforced concrete, and can continue burning for days. The car triggered a chain reaction that led to a massive fire.
My son studies these things pretty intensively. We have to come up with alternative forms of batteries, he said, or invest more in hydrogen vehicles. Whatever the case, lithium-ion batteries aren't a long term option even if you could potentially recycle the batteries. At present EV's make up less than one percent of the cars on the road and there is no way these batteries would be able to meet long term demand. Yet, our genius Elon Musk continues to invest in lithium.
For the time being, my son went on, it makes more sense to encourage persons to hold onto their cars rather than buy new ones. You can always improve emissions or change out the ICE for an electric drive train as there are conversion kits for virtually every model available. But, he said, the car companies are rolling back production of spare parts for older models so that you are forced to pick through a shrinking supply of used parts.
He also noted with bemusement how car companies try to meet sustainability requirements set by the EU by making bio-degradable products such as glue and casing for engine wires. The result is that these items break down within a few short years, so that wires often become bare and short circuit or the fabric starts peeling away from the interior doors and ceiling like it is in our 16-year old Toyota Verso.
I never could see the point in buying a new car as its value depreciates so quickly, even on high end models like BMW. He specializes in flipping older model BMWs, which he buys for as little as 500 euros, a far cry from the original sticker prices. He makes most of his money off car parts.
I said a better option is to improve public transportation as there are a number of alternative ways of providing electricity without relying on lithium-ion batteries. The EU is already trying to cut down on jet travel by encouraging airlines to form partnerships with rail lines so that no flight will be less than 2.5 hours. Of course Europe has a very good rail infrastructure, including high-speed electric rails, which the US does not have.
Cities can make their public transportation more attractive and user friendly to encourage more use. For years, Vilnius toyed with the idea of running a modern trolley system along the river's edge connecting the city center to outlying areas and to the airport but it never came to pass. Instead, it embarked on a long term plan to improve its bus service.
In the short time it took us to reach the center we had solved part of the world's problems. The recycling center is a tiny place tucked away on the outskirts of Vilnius. We were beginning to worry if we would get in on time as it neared closing hour. One of the workers took my driver's license. You are only allowed to dump your furniture for free once a year, so he logged my name into the computer. We sorted out the stuff as per plastic, metal, wood and electronic items, emptying the van and returning it to its designated spot. There was still 90 km. left on the charge so my son didn't plug it into the charging station. The van looked beat up well beyond its two years on the road.
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