Mining

As American consumers purchase more EV's the country is lowering the production of CO2 by exporting CO2. Most of the CO2 produced from EV's comes from the mining and disposition of the elements used in the manufacture of EV's. A typical EV battery has about 17 pounds of lithium. Mining for lithium is water intensive and harmful to the environment. Much of it is mined in dry areas like Australia, Chile and Navada. It takes 25,000 pound of ore to get the lithium needed for one battery. After the ore is mined, it is crushed and roasted at 2012°F (1100°C). It is then cooled to 140°F (65°C), milled and roasted again, this time with sulfuric acid, at 482°F (250°C), a process known as acid leaching. During this last step, the hydrogen in the sulfuric acid is replaced with lithium ions, to produce lithium sulfate and an insoluble residue. It is easy to understand why articles on EV's don't talk about the mining aspect. This is only one metal. Mining others like cobalt are equally destructive. Then there's the problem of disposing all the old batteries.