Electric Vehicles: Are They Good, Bad, or Ugly?

Larry Elder’s new documentary ‘Electric Vehicles: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ takes a deep dive into the pros and cons of EVs.

Larry Elder discusses EVs with Leon Kaplan, host of a long-running radio show about cars and mechanics, in "Electric Vehicles: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Impactful Pictures

Commentary

The recently released “Electric Vehicles: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” isn’t just another documentary that lazily cheerleads the industry, though there is a fair amount of marveling at the technology and underscoring its benefits and potential. It’s an enlightening, educational, and entertaining 90-minute documentary that is a must-view for those who wish to enhance their energy literacy and decide for themselves if EVs are good, bad, or ugly.

It raises serious concerns that policymakers—in wealthy countries only—are setting “green” policies that continue to support human-rights atrocities and environmental degradation in poorer, developing countries where the exotic minerals and metals needed for EVs are mined.

Some challenges remain with wind and solar power, which can only generate occasional electricity and are unreliable. This issue has drawn federal legislative attention, with the U.S. Senate voting to discuss a resolution to roll back California’s EV mandate, citing concerns about energy infrastructure and consumer readiness.

“Electric Vehicles: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” narrated by political commentator and author Larry Elder, who also appears in the film, demonstrates the environmental degradation and human-rights atrocities caused by mining the components needed for EVs, while presenting a thorough analysis of the pros and cons of the vehicles.

Planet Earth’s Resources Are Limited

Elder’s documentary educates viewers about how the critical minerals and metals needed to support the much-touted “energy transition” to EVs, wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries come from unreliable countries such as China, some poorer African nations, and others. Those countries have minimal labor laws and poor environmental controls, so that their production of the critical minerals and metals needed for going “green” results in serious environmental degradation and dire social consequences.

All this, just to support “clean” electricity in wealthier countries.

The extraction rates and R/P (reserves to production) ratio for many of the critical minerals and metals needed for going “green” are alarming, and most of these natural resources are not being replenished. This suggests a worrisome possibility of an unsustainable approach to the current policies of subsidies for “green” energies. Furthermore, even countries with the largest reserve base face important challenges to increasing production growth to meet projected future demand.

• Lithium: In 2024, the world mined about 240,000 tons of lithium, almost three times the amount mined in 2020. The International Energy Agency projects that demand for lithium will increase to 450,000 tons per year by 2030. Despite a significant world resource base, production of those resources remains a major challenge.
• Cobalt: In 2024, the world produced an estimated 280,000 metric tons of cobalt, the highest amount ever recorded. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was the world’s leading producer, accounting for 74 percent of the global total, while the country is known for the major problems with child labor and poor working conditions of its mineral sector.

A typical EV battery for a Tesla sedan requires substantial raw material extraction for the battery’s minerals and metals of lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum, graphite, plus the steel, plastic, and other metals for battery casings.

The documentary raises concerns about these “blood minerals,” which come mostly from developing countries—mined at locations in the world that are never inspected or seen by policymakers and EV buyers.

The mining and refining to support the demands for EV batteries, wind, and solar involve large quantities of raw materials. The estimated total mass of raw materials mined and processed for an EV battery, including overburden and waste rock, can range from 50,000 to 100,000 pounds, depending on battery size, chemistry, and mining efficiency.

Elder’s documentary should be viewed by so-called zero-emission policymakers in the few wealthy countries that have disrupted the delivery of continuous and uninterruptible electricity with strict regulations, preferential subsidies, and cancellation of proven baseload sources like coal, nuclear, and natural gas.

Those who watch “Electric Vehicles: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” will learn about the shell game some are using to exploit developing countries to support so-called clean and green electric vehicles, and can evaluate for themselves whether global economies and the environment can sustain EVs to meet transportation needs for all, not just for a select few.

“Electric Vehicles: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” starts streaming May 23 on Ganjing World. It is available for purchase at $12.99, and available for a 72-hour lease for $9.99.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.