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Electric cars: Difference between revisions
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This page is about passenger-owned electric vehicles (cars, vans, pickup trucks, etc | This page is about ''passenger-owned'' electric vehicles (EVs): '''cars''', '''vans''', '''pickup trucks''', etc. For commercial semi trucks, see the page on [[electric trucks]]. For passenger buses, see [[electric buses]]. | ||
{{considerations}} | {{considerations}} | ||
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==Types== | ==Types== | ||
* Battery electric vehicles (most common today) | * Battery electric vehicles (most common EVs today) | ||
* [[Fuel cell vehicles]] (very few models on the market today) | * [[Fuel cell vehicles]] (very few models on the market today) | ||
==Considerations== | ==Considerations== | ||
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The vast majority of today's electric cars store their energy in [[lithium-ion batteries]], which contain too much cobalt to scale up. {{x|Cobalt mineral reserves would be depleted early-on, and the majority of cars would remain gasoline-based, even with desperate attempts at obtaining more cobalt such as strip-mining the ocean floor. See page on [[lithium-ion batteries]] for maths related to this.}} Lithium is also somewhat scarce and could be also be an issue. | The vast majority of today's electric cars store their energy in [[lithium-ion batteries]], which contain too much cobalt to scale up. {{x|Cobalt mineral reserves would be depleted early-on, and the majority of cars would remain gasoline-based, even with desperate attempts at obtaining more cobalt such as strip-mining the ocean floor. See page on [[lithium-ion batteries]] for maths related to this.}} Lithium is also somewhat scarce and could be also be an issue. | ||
Every once and awhile there's some news article about some company researching / developing / investing in some battery type that will supposedly be as energy-dense as lithium-ion. But there's no guarantee it'll happen in the near future, and if it does, it'll probably be expensive. | {{minor|Every once and awhile there's some news article about some company researching / developing / investing in some battery type that will supposedly be as energy-dense as lithium-ion. But there's no guarantee it'll happen in the near future, and if it does, it'll probably be expensive.}} | ||
Scarcity | Scarcity is also an issue for [[hydrogen]] fuel cell vehicles (which depend on platinum-group metals). | ||
If car buyers are willing to compromise (settle for [[short-range electric vehicles|less ''range'']]), electric cars could be made with other battery types{{x|such as [[sodium-ion]], or somewhat less ideally [[lithium iron phosphate]]}} that are more sustainable/scalable. The main selling point is that they would be cheaper. {{qn}} | If car buyers are willing to compromise (settle for [[short-range electric vehicles|less ''range'']]), electric cars could be made with other battery types{{x|such as [[sodium-ion]], or somewhat less ideally [[lithium iron phosphate]]}} that are more sustainable/scalable. The main selling point is that they would be cheaper. {{qn}} | ||
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===Energy sources=== | ===Energy sources=== | ||
{{sum|Not green enough yet}} | {{sum|Not green enough yet|bad}} | ||
If the electricity comes from [[fossil fuels]], electric cars are [[electric vehicles/fossil fuel powered|barely any better than gasoline cars]] when it comes to carbon emissions. | If the electricity comes from [[fossil fuels]], electric cars are [[electric vehicles/fossil fuel powered|barely any better than gasoline cars]] when it comes to carbon emissions. | ||
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===Rare-earth magnets=== | ===Rare-earth magnets=== | ||
{{sum|Reasonable}} | {{sum|Reasonable}} | ||
Efficient motors need strong magnets, which can only be made with | Efficient electric motors need strong magnets, which can only be made with certain minerals known as ''rare-earth elements'' (REEs). Luckily, REEs aren't actually that scarce. Even if all vehicles were electric, we wouldn't even come close to running out of REEs. | ||
{{minor|This is true even if all [[energy]] were to come from [[wind]] turbines, which also contain rare-earth magnets.}} | |||
{{pn|TODO: Add the calculations & research that led to this statement.}} | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||