Suppose 150k mile car that averages 30mpg. That is 5,000 gallons of fuel weighing 30,000 pounds. The amount of crude to make that oil varies, so actual oil you have to extract and ship and refine will be a bit more than that, and the refinement process is also dirty.
So compare that 30,000 lbs of oil to the amount of lithium in a Tesla battery pack, which is about 138lbs. 138lbs < 30,000lbs
Then figure in that those 30,000lbs of oil all go into the air producing not only c02 which is changing our climate, but particulates which are bad for our health and cognitive function, vs the lithium in a battery pack which can be recycled and/or re-used
This seemm like a large net win to me.
All of that said, yes, all of the resource extraction industry, from the iron and aluminum to the oil and lithium, has a bad history of responsible stewardship of the lands they exploit, and I support forcing them to do a better job.
> So compare that 30,000 lbs of oil to the amount of lithium in a Tesla battery pack, which is about 138lbs. 138lbs < 30,000lbs
I think you need to account for the amount of material that was mined to get to that 138lb battery. My understanding is that it's orders of magnitudes more than what gets removed/disrupted for oil. I don't know the figure (and I welcome someone telling me) but I think it could well be in excess of 30,000lbs of raw material mined.
There's also battery recycling to consider.
I don't know which way the result swings; I'm just saying that it's much more complicated to figure out, and far less clear cut, than you suggest.
Yes a complete accounting of the net externalities of each would be very complicated, and I apologize that I am not prepared to present a 200 page research report here in the forum. A bit of napkin math can go a long way.
How much dirt you have to dig up to get a thing isn't really much of a measure of impact though. If I dig up 50,000lbs of dirt to get 138lbs of lithium, but the dirt just goes back to being dirt, no problem. If on the other hand sulfuric acid leeching makes it an uninhabitable wasteland for years, problem.
But yes in the end, recycling batteries is going to be the real big win, where all the components can be reused rather than mined.
That is true. However much of that stuff can basically be piled and is not really damaging to the environment. Lithium is usually only about <5% of any given rock.
That is far better then blowing tons of things into the air. Its just a stack of crushed rocks.
So compare that 30,000 lbs of oil to the amount of lithium in a Tesla battery pack, which is about 138lbs. 138lbs < 30,000lbs
Then figure in that those 30,000lbs of oil all go into the air producing not only c02 which is changing our climate, but particulates which are bad for our health and cognitive function, vs the lithium in a battery pack which can be recycled and/or re-used
This seemm like a large net win to me.
All of that said, yes, all of the resource extraction industry, from the iron and aluminum to the oil and lithium, has a bad history of responsible stewardship of the lands they exploit, and I support forcing them to do a better job.