Electric vehicles (EVs) have been hailed as the future, and the Government plans to ban the sale of all new conventional fuel-powered cars and vans in the UK from 2030. But are they too good to be true?
Not pitch perfect
EVs will not save the climate. At least not on their own. While the benefits have been hailed over and over, EVs are a double edge sword. Mining causing significant environmental damage, recycling problems and concerns around forced labour, dominate the headlines. Also, transparency in supply chains remains problematic.
Levent Ergin, Global Chief ESG Sustainability Strategist at NYSE-listed Informatica, acknowledges that battery passport compliance for EV manufacturers and distributors will be a massive challenge, as the industry strives for greater transparency.
“Transparency is not a choice. It’s a responsibility,” he says. “Transparency isn’t simply achieved by ‘doing due diligence’ on the supply chain.
“Instead, manufacturers must understand, manage and master data to understand all the individual components that come together in the making and use of lithium batteries. Only then can true transparency be achieved.”
While EVs offer a promising alternative to combustion engines in terms of emission reduction, concerns remain. Namely, EV production is unsustainable. The operational carbon footprint of EVs may be lower, but the production, especially of the batteries, has a significant carbon footprint.
