This week I talk about the ethics of mineral extraction in order to make EVs, particularly EV batteries. Is it unethical to extract the minerals used?

This is the latest in a series of videos sharing my knowledge and experience with electric cars. EVs have improved immensely over the last few years, and we are at a point where I think the majority of people can make the switch to electric.

00:00 Introduction
00:47 Rare earth elements
03:28 Critical minerals
03:54 Lithium
05:13 Cobalt
07:49 Graphite
08:24 Manganese
08:47 Nickel
09:04 The complexity of the issue
10:45 The scale of extraction
14:41 Comparing the use cases
15:46 Future demand
17:03 The ethics of fossil fuel use
18:03 Misdirection
18:25 Summary

Resources used in the making of this video:

Graphs by Our World In Data
“Data Page: Lithium production”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser (2023) “Energy”. Data adapted from Energy Institute. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/li... [online resource]
“Data Page: Cobalt productionreserves”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser (2023) “Energy”. Data adapted from Energy Institute. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co... [online resource]
“Data Page: Graphite production”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser (2023) “Energy”. Data adapted from Energy Institute. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gr... [online resource]

Mineral Extraction
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geologyproject...
  / howmuchlithiumliionvehiclebatterypa...  

Conflict Minerals
https://www.iisd.org/story/greenconf...

Cobalt
https://www.cobaltinstitute.org/about...
https://www.cobaltinstitute.org/about...
https://www.utoledo.edu/nsm/ic/elemen...
Cobalt 32nd most abundant element, but 9th most abundant metal in the earth's crust
Fair Cobalt Alliance and the Responsible Cobalt Initiative

Manganese
https://www.fairplanet.org/story/the...

Graphite
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/c...
https://www.maplecroft.com/insights/a...

Nickel
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/ind...
https://www.context.news/nature/isni...

Oil
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/what...

Future Mineral Demand Predictions
https://www.iea.org/dataandstatisti...
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/t...
https://www.ft.com/content/d7a624ea4...
IEA 2024; Total demand for lithium in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, https://www.iea.org/dataandstatisti..., License: CC BY 4.0

The aim of my channel is to provide knowledge and plain speaking about the transition we all face. I hope you will join me for other videos on the move towards a renewable energy future. I will be covering plenty more about EVs, but will also be sharing my experiences as I look into energy generation and electric heating.