In 2035, all new vehicles sold in Canada must be zero-emission. A dozen other countries will take this path, between 2025 and 2035. A legislative hope in which Laurent Castaignède, former employee of the car manufacturer Renault who became an environmental impact advisor, does not believe as it is based on uncertain conditions (availability of metal resources, possible geopolitical tensions, retraining of the workforce, multiple charging stations to be installed).
What if the promises of the electrical miracle were in fact only the prelude to a predicted disaster? questions Laurent Castaignède, even going so far as to float the possibility of a “ electricgate “, in reference to the scandal of ” dieselgate » which hit the German manufacturer Volkswagen. Because, according to him, the electric car is less clean than it seems.
Long considered as a solution to air pollution in cities – the author also takes us into the ancient history of its conception – the electric car is now positioned as a weapon in the fight against climate change. However, although we are talking about a zero-emission vehicle during use, it is not without putting pressure on the environment. Because it requires on average almost three times more copper and manganese than the average automobile, in addition to cobalt, nickel, lithium and graphite, as well as rare earths for certain types of batteries, the massive deployment of the electric car will lead to an intensification of extraction.
And that’s without taking into account that, in several countries, depending on the energy mix used, its recharge is more carbon-intensive than announced, explains the author of The rush towards the electric car – Between miracle and disaster. Note that its analysis is mainly developed around Europe and France and almost entirely obscures, unfortunately, the reality of Quebec and its hydroelectric dams.
Without calling into question the need for the electrification of part of road mobility, it is against the rush to move towards all-electric that he warns us. Because by perpetuating the economic model of growth hitherto applied to the thermal automobile and by continuing this trend towards “autobesity” which consists of offering vehicles of ever more disproportionate size, “it is strongly to be feared that the electric car , if it is not seriously tamed, may it become the Trojan horse of a new revival of use and influence of the automobile system and extractivism,” he writes.
Laurent Castaignède instead pleads for reasoned electrification which would result in a questioning of mobility needs and a more local spatial organization of activities. In short, by “motorized demobility” since, he argues, “the first automobile freedom rediscovered is that of being able to do without it before deciding to use it”.
In an earlier version of this text, it was indicated that in 2035, all new vehicles sold in Canada must be electric. However, it is more accurate to say that they must be zero emissions. Also, in his essay, Laurent Castaignède mentions the use of rare earths for the production of electric cars. Although rare earths are sometimes found in certain electric vehicle engines, this is not the case for all models. The lithium-ion batteries that dominate the electric vehicle market do not contain them.
Extract
“In terms of use and under the guise of “increased practicality”, the electric car threatens (or allows, depending on your point of view) to address multiple new users. On a daily basis, it reduces the complexity of using private cars to make certain urban trips, it being understood that they are presented as “non-polluting” even though they potentially fuel the congestion of polluting vehicles. »
Who is Laurent Castaignède?
Laurent Castaignède is an engineer who graduated from École centrale Paris and worked for nine years at Renault. Speaker and advisor on environmental impact, founder of the BCO2 Ingénierie design office, he is the author ofAirvore or the dark side of transport (2018) and Fidgeting, the new evil of the century? (2021).
The rush towards electric cars: between miracle and disaster
Ecosociety
184 pages