There’s lots and lots of electricity in the air. A September 2022 report from the Environmental Defense Fund estimates that automakers and battery manufacturers will spend more than 850 billion Canadian dollars by the end of the decade to develop electric vehicles (EV) of all kinds, cars, vans, trucks and buses. The only subsidies encouraging the purchase of EVs were then estimated at around 55 billion.
Quebec and Canada are entering this electrifying race. Ottawa is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 and is working to establish “a Canadian ecosystem for the production of batteries for EVs”. By announcing a month ago the installation of a Northvolt battery factory on the South Shore of Montreal, supported by federal and provincial aid which alone could exceed 7 billion, Prime Minister François Legault repeated that Quebec was becoming “a true world leader in the green economy”.
This greenwashing frenzy leaves French engineer Laurent Castaignède doubtful, to say the least. Instead of a bright new future for transport, he sees in the current electric revolution an amplification of the waste of resources against a backdrop of die-hard economic growth.
“France has already inaugurated its first giga-battery factory, in Douvrin, in the north-east,” he recalls. People often ask me what I think about it. Well, I say it depends. It depends on the batteries that will come out of it. If this French factory, like the one in Quebec, only produces large batteries for SUVs, it will be a failed investment. If it releases batteries for scooters, buses or compact cars, then why not. But that remains to be seen. »
The French factory, in operation for two years, actually produces batteries for large individual vehicles. The Quebec and North American trend has favored vehicle obesity for years, and Northvolt should therefore, logically, produce for this market. Farewell, green Eldorado, nothing will work anymore…
The electric monsters
Mr. Castaignède has just published The rush towards electric cars. Between miracle and disaster at the Quebec publishing house Écosociété. An engineer by training, he founded the BCO2 Ingénierie office, specializing in carbon footprints for companies in the south-west of France. The work of an essayist keeps him busy part-time. He has already published Fidgeting, the new evil of the century? And Airvore or the myth of clean transport.
The book on the EV is aimed at “Mr and Mme Everyman, Mr. and M.me Tremblay”, to nourish reflection on the subject while many serious analyzes at the moment either advocate or radically criticize the electric car. Defenders claim that it is still better than a thermal car; detractors, that it would be even worse. “I wanted to untangle these extremes by separating things in a calm manner,” explains the author.
The demonstration begins with a long historical detour reminding us that the electric solution was developed and exploited from the beginning of the invention of the automobile. In the long run, after a few decades, the electrification of individual transport was lost due to technical problems linked to too long a charging time… to ensure too little range over a distance.
These difficulties have been resolved. The batteries recharge quickly and allow you to travel long distances. The EV does not become eco-friendly, however.
First, it uses more rare metals than its gasoline competitor: lithium, cobalt, manganese, up to four times more copper wiring. The extractive industries will therefore enormously increase their production in the coming decades to satisfy this new market. “A brand new electric vehicle that has not yet been driven has roughly twice as much impact through its manufacture as a thermal vehicle,” summarizes the essayist engineer.
The major favor now granted to “electric monsters”, the pickup and the increasingly gigantic SUV, multiplies these defects. New electric vehicles like the battery-powered F-150 can be up to six meters long, two meters wide and two meters high. They often weigh more than three tonnes and offer acceleration worthy of a racing car.
The refill then adds bones into this cheese. “Who says EV says additional electricity”, indicates the analyst.
So, what to do? Mr. Castaignède focuses on sobriety. “The electric car cannot be an exception to a serious questioning of its mass, its power, its size,” he writes. It recommends limiting the speed of cars to 130 km/h, and even 90 km/h for models exceeding 1.5 tonnes of empty mass, and a cap on their acceleration power. He also wants batteries, like tax favors, to be reserved for small, light cars, weighing around 500 kg, particularly in urban environments.
The fact remains that, for ecologists, whether the vehicle is electric, nuclear or gasoline, the enemy to be radically criticized is the solo car. Engineer Castaignède knows this well, while observing the powerful forces that favor this very practical solution for getting around.
“The car is quite cheap per kilometer traveled, and fast,” he notes. In the history of transportation, the cheapest and fastest means have always won. For me, the first way to improve our situation is to reduce the distance separating us from everyday activities. This is the first lever. In pubs, cars are alone in magical landscapes, while reality revolves around traffic jams, in EVs or gasoline vehicles. We should therefore start by reorganizing society, work and leisure in order to reduce travel. »