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>There aren't any rare earths in batteries btw. they're common in motor design, especially motor-in-hub designs. To play devils' advocate : batteries are fill

by serf 7y ago

>There aren't any rare earths in batteries btw. they're common in motor design, especially motor-in-hub designs. To play devils' advocate : batteries are filled with so-called 'conflict materials', and the places that export things like lithium and cobalt have famously bad worker conditions.[0] The popularity of such materials is only going to make their conditions worse unless they're accommodated somehow. [0]: https://blog.ucsusa.org/josh-goldman/electric-vehicles-batteries-cobalt-and-rare-earth-metals https://blog.ucsusa.org/josh-goldman/electric-vehicles-batte...

clouddrover 7y ago
Some car manufacturers are working to reduce the use of rare earths in their motors. BMW's fifth generation motor doesn't use any rare earths: https://www.bmwblog.com/2018/12/28/upcoming-electric-motors-from-bmw-will-be-free-of-rare-earths/ https://www.bmwblog.com/2018/12/28/upcoming-electric-motors-... Car manufacturers are also making an effort to reduce the amount of cobalt used in batteries and are trying to increase the transparency of the supply chain to avoid sourcing cobalt from conflict regions. Volkswagen and others are using IBM's Blockchain Platform to document the cobalt supply chain: https://www.electrive.com/2019/04/23/volkswagen-joins-blockchain-initiative-for-purchasing-cobalt/ https://www.electrive.com/2019/04/23/volkswagen-joins-blockc... The problems are real but car manufacturers are working on them.
benj111 7y ago
So what's your solution? Carry on with IC cars? I'm sure those same Africans will thank you when climate change destroys the lives, livelihoods, and nation in various ways. Car manufacturing and battery production aren't fly by night operations. As such it will be relatively easy for western consumers to put pressure on these companies to do something about the situation. Also I believe Tesla at least are intending to remove all cobalt from their batteries at some point.

by serf 7y ago

clouddrover 7y ago

Some car manufacturers are working to reduce the use of rare earths in their motors. BMW's fifth generation motor doesn't use any rare earths: https://www.bmwblog.com/2018/12/28/upcoming-electric-motors-from-bmw-will-be-free-of-rare-earths/ https://www.bmwblog.com/2018/12/28/upcoming-electric-motors-... Car manufacturers are also making an effort to reduce the amount of cobalt used in batteries and are trying to increase the transparency of the supply chain to avoid sourcing cobalt from conflict regions. Volkswagen and others are using IBM's Blockchain Platform to document the cobalt supply chain: https://www.electrive.com/2019/04/23/volkswagen-joins-blockchain-initiative-for-purchasing-cobalt/ https://www.electrive.com/2019/04/23/volkswagen-joins-blockc... The problems are real but car manufacturers are working on them.

benj111 7y ago

So what's your solution? Carry on with IC cars? I'm sure those same Africans will thank you when climate change destroys the lives, livelihoods, and nation in various ways. Car manufacturing and battery production aren't fly by night operations. As such it will be relatively easy for western consumers to put pressure on these companies to do something about the situation. Also I believe Tesla at least are intending to remove all cobalt from their batteries at some point.