Are electric vehicles our best bet?

Their batteries demand rare earth metals at a rate that is far outstripping supply, but the environmental damage of fossil fuels is far greater. What’s the right thing to do?

Are electric vehicles the best bet right now? Are EVs that good for the environment, given their propensity to gobble up scarce resources for the parts that make them work? Are the vehicles worth it?

Some people are fixating on the intensive use of rare earth metals for EV batteries. But that’s only part of it. It’s not just the batteries that consume these scarce elements.

First, some history. According to folklore, magnets have enjoyed a certain attraction since 600 BC, when a shepherd in Magnesia in northern Greece noticed the iron tip of his staff stuck fast to a magnetic rock. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that a Danish physicist discovered an electric current can deflect a compass needle, leading to the creation of electromagnets that turn on and off with a current. This led to the invention of the electric motor, which harnesses the attracting and repelling forces of magnets to create rotation.

To increase the power and efficiency of industrial magnets, scientists experimented with the composition of magnet materials. The real game-changer arrived in the 1980s with the advent of neodymium permanent magnets, using socalled rare earth elements, which form the muscular heart of electric vehicles today.

The trouble is, the demand for rare earth elements is outstripping their global supply. It is estimated that, by 2030, the world will need 55,000 more tonnes of neodymium magnets than are likely to be available for use in electric vehicles and wind turbines.

Magnets represent the other, untold consumer of rare earth materials as the global economy makes the wholesale transition from fossil fuels to green energy.

Electric vehicles made up 14 per cent of new car sales in 2022 worldwide, adding up to seven million units last year. In Canada, EVs accounted for seven per cent of sales at the beginning of 2023. Annual global sales are expected to reach 65 million electric cars by 2030. This is creating a massive appetite for rare earth materials, which are required by both batteries and motors.

That’s a problem. “There are significant public issues related to mining these materials,” says Nate Wallace, clean transportation program manager at Environmental Defence, a Canadian environmental organization. “China is seen as having pretty lax environmental regulatory standards.” It’s a big challenge when one nation controls some 90 per cent of the resources.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s largest reserve of cobalt is often dug by men and boys using shovels. Most of the cobalt is processed in the Congo by Chinese firms or exported to China for use in samarium cobalt magnets. Working conditions in the mines have been criticized by Amnesty International.

Where and how rare earth elements are obtained for EV production is a major talking point when the green economy is debated. Pundits often focus on the environmental toll where these metals are mined. But these critics neglect to apply the same scrutiny to the damage caused by fossil-fuel extraction.

“We are mining seven million tonnes of rare earth metals today, and it’s expected to grow to 27 million tonnes by 2040,” Wallace says. “By comparison, the world extracts

15 billion tonnes of fossil fuels annually.”

The environmental damage wrought by oil and coal production is orders of magnitude greater than that of rare earth elements.

But these vital materials have not escaped the attention of regulators.

“There are choices we can make about the resource intensity of the transition to electric vehicles,” says Wallace. “We’re behind the Europeans on the regulatory side of the EV industry.”

He points to the European Union’s Battery Directive, which will introduce declaration requirements, performance classes and maximum limits on the carbon footprint of electric vehicles, ebikes and scooters, as well as rechargeable industrial batteries. Under the Directive, there will be a “passport” that states the chemistry and composition of each battery to ensure its proper recycling.

To reduce the reliance on rare earth elements, massive private investments are pouring into research and development of new materials and technology, says Wallace, and EV automaker Tesla has signalled it wants to move away from rare earth materials.

There is the prospect that we may not even need magnets for motors; developments in power electronics and advances in the design of induction motors, which don’t use magnets at all, are closing the performance gap.

On the battery side, Wallace points out the sodium-ion battery, which uses one of the most plentiful elements on the planet, is already in production in China and will be powering the BYD Seagull hatchback.

While batteries less energy-dense than lithium-ion units are favoured by EV makers, the sodium-ion pack is relatively inexpensive, and this helps make the Seagull affordable.

But are all carmakers onside with making vehicles that are inexpensive? Do they actually want to try to use the least amount of resources to build a vehicle?

Perhaps not.

George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association (APA) consumer group, stresses affordability is a key factor in the success of electric vehicles. But, unfortunately, many automakers are not interested in propagating EVs at bargain-basement prices, as they do in China, where a basic commuter model can be purchased for $14,000.

“North Americans are reportedly driven by environmental concerns, but they’re buying the big luxury electric SUVs and trucks that manufacturers prefer to sell,” Iny says.

“The government rebate has encouraged supersizing of EVs, and has led to less expensive models being discontinued. The automakers, being capacity-limited, have rightly concluded rebates will support building the same number of larger, more profitable vehicles.”

In Iny’s view, the big, heavy EVs that thrive on cheap electricity will only encourage more driving, more lethal collisions, more congested roads and, ultimately, more urban sprawl.

Iny praises Hyundai and Kia for bucking the trend by introducing the Ioniq 5 and 6, and the Kia EV6, respectively, which marry great design with innovative technology to make these all-electric models immensely appealing and even “underpriced.”

Iny believes all automakers should introduce entry-level EVs to help middle-class households buy into the EV revolution. New induction motors and improved battery chemistries on the horizon will usher in better electric-vehicle choices. Until then, he says, gaselectric hybrid models such as the Toyota Prius provide the best bang for the buck.

“The APA prefers hybrids right now, either conventional or plugin, as the optimal transitional purchase,” he says. “Hybrids use half the fuel of their gasoline equivalent models, one-quarter of the rare earth metals and can recharge using a normal 110-volt household receptacle.

“Right now, a small hybrid sedan is the best environmental play.”