"A ticking time bomb that can explode at any time", as EVs surge, so does nickel mining’s death toll
"A ticking time bomb that can explode at any time", as EVs surge, so does nickel mining’s death toll
In the mineral-rich fringes of Indonesia, whose nickel will feed EV giants like Tesla, the deaths of miners continue to mount.
Chinese demand for nickel, an important ingredient in EV batteries, has triggered a mining boom in the remote regions of Indonesia. The country has signed over a dozen deals worth more than $15 billion with suppliers for EV giants like Tesla and Hyundai Motor, but deaths and injuries from industrial accidents have been racking up.
The cost of mining for electric vehicle battery raw materials is sometimes called "eco-colonialism." Ultimately, I do think EVs will have a significant place in the solution to the climate crisis, but MORE significant will be walkable neighborhoods and robust transit systems
Yeah at the end of the day the whole idea of every single person owning a one ton chunk of steel and rare earth metals just to avoid taking the bus or walking a couple of kilometres is unsustainable and incompatible with the continued survival of our society (and maybe even our species).
It would be nice to have walkable neighborhoods and robust transit but keep in mind that the whole of the southern US has been experiencing 100 degree weather for 2 months. That can be dangerous for children and elderly waiting for transit or attempting to walk to their destination. It's not as cut and dry a solution as people make it out to be.
Or the fact that a lot of people don’t like to live on top of each other, or that a lot of people have to live not in cities to enable city life.
It’s almost as if people think produce magically appears in the store shelves.
But it’s 2023 - we should be able to mine ore responsibly, not keep digging like it’s 1903.
An important ingredient? Do these so called "journalists" keep up with the latest tech? Or even modern tech?
NiMH is out. NiMH is your father's tech. Nobody fucking uses NiMH except for consumer grade batteries, and even then, many people would prefer to spend the extra bucks on Li-ion rechargeables. Old Prii used to use NiMH, but Toyota switched to Li-ion a long time ago.
As far as EVs and larger batteries for home/commercial generation, Li-ion is out. LiFePO4 is the new hotness, and is quickly replacing Li-ion, because it's an easy upgrade of battery capacity.
Lithium, iron, phosphoric acid. No nickel. Who the fuck is mining nickel for EV batteries? Everybody has been talking about lithium mining as the bottleneck, not nickel. This article looks like FUD for clickbait.
That's the new hotness yes, but for the most part EVs are currently using Li-NMC lithium ion batteries. The NMC stands for Nickel Manganese Cobalt. Nickel and Cobalt mining is a major source of degradation in extraction mining economies, bordering on, and at times entering into, slavery.
Also LiFePO4 are not set to replace Li-NMC batteries for a long time and cannot act as a drop in replacement. They're a better drop in for NiMH or Lead Acid batteries given their similar drawbacks. They are projected to replace Li-NMC by 2028, but that's a whole half decade from now
I didn't realize Li-ions were still using nickel.
Regardless, Telsa and Ford have already switched to LiFePO4 for new models, and Toyota has started switching. Both competitive and economic pressures will push the migration sooner. The battery tech is just miles and miles better (literally). Car buyers will want the extra distance and faster charging.
So, bylines that remark "nickel will feed EV giants like Tesla" is just disingenuous.
Why is everything always converted into something that the west needs to fix?