LESS OF THE SENSATIONALISM
Quote from Starting Handle (PC, February 20210: ‘Make the filthy extraction of lithium and cobalt for new batteries a thing of the past.’ You certainly have a good point there, because lithium extraction from salt flats can lead to leaching of local water supplies. However, if we take that tack about highly controlled Electric Vehicle batteries (about 4.8 million at the moment), they last in excess of ten years before being either recycled or entering a second life as solar power storage.
Unfortunately using Cobalt as a stick to beat EV batteries with is fraught with ‘egg on the face’ danger. EV batteries are rapidly becoming cobalt-free, but the real stinker is that every single gallon of petrol and diesel requires cobalt to refine it, never to be seen again. Every catalytic converter contains (recyclable) cobalt, too. Terry Shepherd, Beetley, Norfolk ED: Thanks Terry. Really interesting insight. I wrote the words and I also own a Nissan Leaf – so I am an EV fan as well. The comment wasn’t an attack on battery electric cars, more an acknowledgement that, with every propulsive technology, comes an environmental impact.