Car DVD started back in 2004 when the 1 Series hatchback model was launched. The 1er Hatch - with its quirky looks - was a rather peculiar appearance in the lineup of the blue and white roundel family. With the E87 1 Series hatchback, the recipe was changed, the new car becoming the cheapest in the lineup, with a design that was far from inspiring the usual feelings exuded by traditional Bimmers. Looks wise, the 1 Series Hatchback didn’t inspire a sense of “sportiness” or “boldness”. Instead, you could imagine it as a rather practical approach for people wanting to own a BMW but not willing to spend a lot of money. The hatchback model was never sold in the U.S. 2007 the Coupe variant of the 1 Series was launched and everything we knew about the 1 Series changed. Then came the 1M Coupe that turned our life upside down again and blew our minds with its 3-liter twin-turbo engine and manual transmission.
It’s not just Tesla, of course. All electric vehicles rely on parts with similar environmental issues. Even solar panels depend on rare metals that have to be dug out of the earth and processed in less-than-green ways. Rare metals only exist in tiny quantities and inconvenient places—so you have to move a lot of earth to get just a little bit. As in every stage of the production process for Tesla vehicles, mining has hidden emissions. Many mines rely on rock-crushing equipment with astronomical energy bills, as well as coal-fired furnaces for the final baking stages. Those spew a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the process of refining a material destined for your zero-emissions car. In fact, manufacturing an electric vehicle generates more carbon emissions than building a conventional car, mostly because of its battery, the Union of Concerned Scientists has found. “We’re shifting pollution, and in the process, we’re hoping that it doesn’t have the environmental impact,” says David Abraham, author of The Elements Of Power. He believes that when you add all the environmental impacts, they still come out in favour of electric vehicles.
Still, consumers and investors should understand what it takes to make the materials that enable their green choices. “I don’t think there’s been much discussion of that,” Abraham says. “We can’t look at mining as an over-there thing and Tesla as an over-here thing. Overall, “the greenhouse-gas-emissions footprint of electric vehicles can be pretty high on the front end, as they’re being built,” says McConnell. “And so you need to get a lot of benefits on the other side when you use it.” And after you’re done using it. WHAT HAPPENS TO TESLA BATTERIES WHEN THEY NO LONGER POWER A CAR? Where is the battery going to go? The good news is: not to a landfill. “It has not been accepted for a battery that comes out of a car to go to a landfill for decades,” says electric car advocate Chelsea Sexton. However, that could change when there are million of electric vehicles on US roads and millions of old batteries to recycle.
The more batteries that are out there, the more interest there is in figuring out how to recycle them or recapture rare earth metals from them; This could be the beginning of a very profitable market. Plus, used electric car batteries can still be useful for energy storage, whether in a single building or as part of grids that incorporate more solar and wind. That can help offset the environmental costs of making the batteries in the first place. Companies are already jumping on the bandwagon. Tesla’s Nevada neighbour will soon begin recycling batteries. Aqua Metals plans to open a battery recycling factory in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Centre, which has been located on the same 166-mile industrial park that holds Tesla’s Gigafactory. Aqua Metal’s Chief Commercial Officer Steve Cotton explains the process that tears the batteries apart. The company says its process uses less energy, is less expensive, and is more environmentally-friendly than the standard way to recycle these types of batteries, which is smelting.
