Study Finds New Reason Why Electric Vehicles May Fuel Climate Crisis in the Future

Adopting electric vehicles (EVs) has long been considered one of the best and easiest changes we can make to lessen our environmental impact. But new information suggests they might not be quite as environmentally friendly as we assumed.

EVs run on electric batteries as opposed to gasoline, meaning they have zero tailpipe emissions. If all motorists around the world switched to EVs, we would significantly reduce fossil fuel usage and carbon emissions.

So just from this data, in theory, a wholesale switch to EVs, which would totally eliminate these polluting vehicles from the roads, would reduce the nation’s CO2 emissions by 31% straight away.

However, data like this fails to take into account the infrastructure and material needs for EV construction. In particular, there is a worrying environmental impact from manufacturing EV batteries.

We again have a fairly simple math problem here. If we were to make the transition from gas to electric vehicles that would reduce CO2 emissions by 31%, we would need almost five times the copper we do now for vehicle manufacturing.

To meet our needs, copper mining would need to start churning out quantities like we’ve never seen before. According to one study, should EV sales and charging station construction continue to grow as they have been, global copper demand could increase by between 3-5 million tons within the next decade alone.

The same study notes that to make meeting this insane demand a reality, at least six new copper mines would need to be fully operational within the next decade. Unfortunately, opening a copper mine can take as long as 20 years.

University of Michigan researchers conducted a study on the current and projected levels of U.S. copper use. Their findings echo those of Professor Simon: “Copper cannot be mined quickly enough to keep up with current U.S. policy guidelines to transition the country’s electricity and vehicle infrastructure to renewable energy.”

Mining copper is far from an environmentally safe undertaking in and of itself, with a lot of negative environmental and ecological impacts.

The design of open-pit copper mines causes topsoil erosion and widespread degradation, which drastically decreases soil nutrients. Clearing the areas of forest necessary for new mines has well-documented environmental repercussions, and the waste from copper mines can contaminate groundwater, aquifers and irrigation systems.

Copper mines release toxic and even radioactive chemicals. Once in the air, these chemicals can harm the skin, eyes and, perhaps most damaging, the lungs. Exposure can make breathing difficult, and an excess amount of copper pollutant in the air can even be fatal.

The copper issue is just one aspect of this, but it’s a significant one. To fully realize their positive environmental and sustainability potential, the manufacturing process of EVs needs to evolve to require far less copper.  

A study in 2020 found that EVs produce 1,850 times more particle pollution compared to tailpipes from gas-powered vehicles.

The reason for this increased pollution is the added weight of EVs compared to similar vehicles because of the heavy batteries they require to run which increases tire wear.

The effects of tire pollution are still being researched, however, recent findings have discovered that they contain previously unrecognized chemicals that are harmful to marine life and the environment.

Tire byproducts and pollution introduce synthetic materials, toxic chemicals, and microplastics into the environment. While decades of research have been done on the consequences of greenhouse gases, much less study has been done on the effects of these types of pollution.

The report found that 78 percent of the ocean’s microplastics contain dust fragments from synthetic tire rubber.

These tiny fragments are less than 5 millimeters in size, do not naturally degrade easily, and can stay in their environment for hundreds and even thousands of years.

Researchers have recently detected microplastic particles in clouds, human blood, and breast milk. A study conducted this year on human testicles found that microplastics were present in every participant in the study.

As these tiny particles start to accumulate in blood vessels, they can increase your risk of health problems as your exposure increases.

Because of the way EVs are designed, they can contribute much more to this problem than other vehicles.

As tires impact the pavement, 6PPD gets released and is notably dangerous for its ability to chemically react with the ozone layer.

“Most people think that we know what chemicals are toxic and all we have to do is control the amount of those chemicals to make sure water quality is fine. But, in fact, animals are exposed to this giant chemical soup and we don’t know what many of the chemicals in it even are,” said Edward Kolodziej, an associate professor at the University of Washington.

Initially, EVs actually contribute more to global warming because of the carbon pollution released from their production. An analysis by USA Today found that it takes 6-20 months of driving a gas vehicle to match the emissions output of producing one EV battery.