He points out the inconvenient truths about the costs of electrification.
Geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan poured a bucket of cold water over rabid speculation and government mandates for electric vehicles recently. While speaking at the 54th Annual ECC PerspECCtive Conference in San Antonio earlier this month, he openly doubted the feasibility in EVs becoming mainstream within the next decade.
See what a bear did to an unlocked Range Rover here.
Among his criticisms of modern electric cars was how the lithium-ion batteries are made, a point which many have attacked. Zeihan noted lithium is harvested “from one place, and it’s all processed in China.” In effect, the communist Asian country has a stranglehold on production because of this, so scaling production to make electric cars dominant would be incredibly difficult. He went on to state if America or any other nation wanted to wrestle control of these materials, it would not only have to invade China but also Russia, which would come at a steep cost.
Beyond that, Zeihan said we would “need a new technological series of breakthroughs in material science” to put in place an electric vehicle infrastructure to replace internal combustion engine cars. He expounds upon that point on his own website, pointing out that ICE vehicles only require a small amount of minerals like copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, zinc, chromium, graphite, silicon, rare earths, etc. which is why we’ve been able to make them in mass numbers.
He acknowledged criticisms of the oil industry and its history of wars, oil spills, and other disasters. But, he argued, transitioning to EVs would “only replace it with at least 10 more” volatile supply chains. This is blasphemy to those who dream of a utopian electrified future as they argue ditching fossil fuels will result in world peace and lasting stability.
These are the inconvenient truths about the costs of electrification but deal with them we must instead of just listening to those who argue we’re headed into a utopian society.
Images via YouTube, General Motors
