Electric Car Batteries

Will Your Electric Car Save The World?

Patting yourself on the back for buying a Prius? It might surprise you to find that electric vehicles, dependent on batteries, may have significant negative environmental impact. You may have cut back on greenhouse gas emissions at the pump only to step into other environmental pitfalls.

Here’s something that electric car companies do not want you to know: the materials that make up your car battery are born deep in mines, may be extracted by child labor and in some of the most polluting ways possible. Even if the mining industry were ecologically sustainable, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have been known to explode and/or catch fire. Avoiding such incidents, the batteries are extremely difficult to recycle, often resulting in the disposal of a spent, but still toxic and flammable battery in your local landfill.