The Untold Story of Electric Vehicles: Ethics, Exploitation, and the Environment

BY ANNAPOORNA MARIAM FATHIMA/ AUGUST 24, 2024
DESIGNED BY ASHI PORWAL

Electric vehicles seem to be the panacea for climate trouble. However, behind their popularity lie several dark truths, entrenched in generations of colonial imperialism.

lectric vehicles are quickly becoming the hot new thing on the block, as climate conscious consumers and governments alike flock to replace traditional cars with battery powered ones. The demand for efficient transportation is ever-growing, but whether electric vehicles are the perfect clean answer to the climate problem remains to be seen.

E

All old-established national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodged by new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and death question for all civilized nations, by industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest zones, industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of the old wants, satisfied by the productions of the country, we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes. (Marx & Engels, 1888)

Over the 200 odd years since the Industrial Revolution first took off in Great Britain, human civilisation has gone through immense change, the likes of which have never been seen before. The advent of the steam engine birthed a global movement, spearheaded by European nations, of social, political, and economic change across all strata of society and industry. The economic theory of Mercantilism brought European nations (specifically the kingdoms of Britain, Spain, and France) to the doorsteps of ‘Third World’ countries in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Colonisers capitalised on the abundance of resources provided by the colonies, and raw materials such as tobacco, indigo, diamonds, and timber were sent back to the factories of Europe.

This ensuing prosperity established an atmosphere of creative inventiveness in Europe, leading to the development of many ingenious technologies, such as the internal combustion engine. In 1886, Carl Benz patented the first modern car – the Benz Patent-Motorwagen – a practical,marketable automobile for everyday use (Garrison, 2018). The model was further developed by different entrepreneurs, and eventually made its way across the Pacific, where in 1893, the first petrol driven American car was developed in Massachusetts. The car went from being a novelty plaything of the rich to an everyman tool of convenience solely due to large-scale production line manufacturing revolutionised by Henry Ford. This uber-efficient method, known as Fordism, is responsible for the contemporary image of the factory

Pictured: Illustration by unknown via Pinterest

worker – mechanised, soulless, and repetitive. It contributed to the rise in popularity and affordability of automobiles: individual cars were soon being assembled in 15 minutes, reducing manpower and working hours, while increasing efficiency and wages (Georgano, 2000).

The improved productivity coincided with and contributed to the subsequent economic rise of the USA, as did the systemic dehumanisation of the factory worker to the mere “Hand” – “The looms, and wheel, and Hands all out of gear for an hour” (Dickens, 1854).

The prosperity of the 1920s led to new patterns of consumption, and the expansion of credit ensured that consumer goods like automobiles were now within the reach of the middle classes. By 1929, there were over 23 million automobiles on American roads. Fast forward to 2023, that number has exploded. The USA now boasts over 282 million cars in use on its roads (Cahalan, 2024).

The nature of the car as a commodity has transcended the sphere of utility and has become a status symbol for many across the globe. Expensive cars are coveted by the masses and collected by the elite, as exemplified by American billionaire musician Jay-Z who has a collection of cars worth over 40 million USD (The Journal, 2022). Trends of over-consumption and the growth of car-centric cities have contributed to the climate crisis. Globally, the transport sector is responsible for nearly a quarter of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicle emissions are a significant source of the fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides that are major causes of urban air pollution (Sims et. al, 2014). Moreover, millions of unsafe, substandard, used automobiles are imported to developing countries, mostly in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. These vehicles fail environment and safety inspections and are not considered roadworthy in their own countries. They contribute significantly to air pollution and hinder efforts to reduce the effect of climate change (Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate, Netherlands, 2020).

As an alternative to fossil-fuel powered automobiles, electric vehicles are promoted as a feasible, environmentally friendly option. The expanding availability of EV models, from budget-friendly options to luxury vehicles, is making electric driving accessible to a broader audience who label themselves as ‘eco-friendly. Also referred to as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), these automobiles have an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine emitting no exhaust and not requiring fuel. Electric vehicles first came into existence in the late 19th century, predating the internal combustion engine, but did not achieve the same level of popularity. In the early 2000s, companies began to introduce battery electric cars. However, due to intense lobbying from the oil and auto industries leading to negative media campaigning, they failed to take off. Bolstered by growing concerns about climate change, battery electric cars did not become popular until the late 2010s. Now, they are ubiquitous, with governments worldwide incentivising their purchase and use.

Pictured: Illustration by unknown via Pinterest

Mainstream media and public opinion have become flag bearers of electric automobiles, touting them as “clean”, compared to the “dirty” fossil fuel-guzzling cars. The ultimate plan for the future is how quickly Western governments can “decarbonise” with clean energy, thereby saving the planet from an impending climate catastrophe. “Net zero by 2050” is the new mantra, as governments and intergovernmental agencies around the world call for carbon emissions to be completely eradicated in the next three decades. Demand for electric vehicles is set to soar, as electric car sales in 2023 were 3.5 million higher than in 2022, a 35% year-on-year increase (International Energy Agency, 2024). Owning a “clean” car is becoming a moral testament to many virtue-signalling consumers.

Much of the DRC’s cobalt is being extracted by so-called “artisanal miners – freelance workers, often children, who do extremely dangerous labour for a pittance.

Behind the Shiny Curtain

Everything, however, comes at a price, and oftentimes the one who pays the price is not the satisfied customer. The most important component of an electric vehicle is the lithium ion rechargeable battery (also used in smartphones and other rechargeable devices), which relies on critical mineral commodities such as cobalt, graphite, lithium, and manganese. A typical EV battery contains around 8kg of lithium, 35kg of nickel, 20kg manganese, and 14kg cobalt (EnergyX, 2023). The extraction of these raw materials is concentrated in a small number of developing countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Botswana, etc that have almost non-existent environmental and labour regulations. The DRC, for instance, supplies two-thirds of global cobalt output. The mines, which account for up to a quarter of the country’s production, are dangerous and have been found to employ child labour (Automotive News Europe, 2018). Much of the DRC’s cobalt is being extracted by so-called “artisanal miners” – freelance workers, often children, who do extremely dangerous labour for a pittance. “People are working in subhuman, grinding, degrading conditions. They use pickaxes, shovels, stretches of rebar to hack and scrounge at the earth in trenches and pits and tunnels to gather cobalt and feed it up the formal supply chain” wrote Siddharth Kara in his 2022 book Cobalt Red. The US Department of Labour estimates that at least 25,000 children are working in cobalt mines in the DRC (Bureau of International Labour Affairs, 2024). Child trafficking and forced labour is also rampant in the area.

Source: Price, L. (2023). Children and adults work daily, weather permitting, digging rocks out of the slag heaps next to the old lead mine at Kabwe. They break up the larger rocks to sell them for building material. The town has an estimated 6m tonnes of lead slag. [Photograph]. The Guardian.

Many of these mines date back to World War 1, when mining companies played a significant role in the spread of settler colonial power throughout Africa. Since then, the burgeoning mining sector has wreaked havoc on Africa's ecosystems, causing deadly particulate matter pollution in the air, widespread deforestation, and chemical waste contamination in the water. A further factor contributing to the resource drain back to the First World is the systemic dehumanisation of physical labour, or the "Hands" at the bottom of the supply chain, as well as the exploitation and commodification of human bodies in an effort to boost corporate profits. This is an example of colonization in the modern era: the war-torn, impoverished nation has endured decades of ransacking and pillage, dating back to the slave trade. The governing of the nation is heavily influenced by foreign parties. After gaining independence from the Belgian state in 1960, Congo elected Patrice Lumumba as its first democratic president, promising to harness the vast natural wealth of the nation for the good of its people. In a speech on the occasion of Zaire's Independence Day in 1960, Lumumba declared, "We who suffered in our bodies and hearts from colonial oppression, we say to you out loud: from now on, all that is over." He was assassinated seven months later by a group of Belgian advisors and Congolese politicians, under the watchful watch of the UN and with the tacit support of the US government.

Today, private and state-sponsored companies like China's Ganfeng Lithium Co Ltd. and UK’s Glencore PLC own the majority of the industrial copper-cobalt mines

Today, private and state-sponsored companies like China's Ganfeng Lithium Co Ltd. and UK’s Glencore PLC own the majority of the industrial copper-cobalt mines (GlobalData, 2021). 80% of the DRC’s cobalt output is refined in China and then sold to manufacturers around the world. The profit goes almost entirely to the Chinese companies and their middlemen, with the Congolese receiving the scraps at the end of the supply chain. In addition to cobalt, minerals such as platinum and diamonds (among others) reach the global market through exploitative extraction. Thus the countries themselves never get to enjoy the benefits of the incredible wealth they possess. The British companies have mining operations in 37 sub-Saharan African countries, collectively controlling over 1 trillion USD worth of Africa’s most valuable resources (Congressional Executive Commission on China, 2023). Companies like

Pictured: Illustration by unknown via Pinteres

Anglo American PLC have been carrying out mining operations since 1917, and have a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, which plays a critical role in facilitating control over all of Africa’s resources. (London Mining Network, 2023). This indirectly ensures that Britain controls a major share of resources, with its interests taking precedence over the needs of African countries. Similarly, popular EV manufacturers such as Tesla obtain most of their raw material from such companies, thus enabling the exploitative system while simultaneously projecting an image of sustainability (NASDAQ, 2024).

Looking Forward

“There is no ethical consumption under capitalism,” is the watchword of the times. The only alternative is to choose the lesser evil, a choice that is seldom apparent. An international switch to electric vehicles is not the panacea to climate change the world is looking for, especially not with the current supply chain. As media and climate advocates continue to shed light on the dire situation in the DRC, multiple international organisations have begun stepping in, trying to change the state of affairs. The Bureau of International Labour Affairs, under the US Department of Labour conducts a programme called “Combatting Child Labour in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Cobalt Industry” (COTECCO). They work to address child labour in the DRC’s cobalt supply chain by raising awareness, improve monitoring and remediation of labour violations, and building the enforcement capacity of relevant stakeholders. Similarly, non-governmental agencies like RCS Global have programmes such as the “Better Mining program” that focus on supply chain transparency and responsible sourcing. A group of organisations along with “Friends of the Congo” and “L’association Comité Afro Européen RDC” filed a landmark lawsuit in 2019 against Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Google, and Dell, on behalf of the families of 14 children who had died in the cobalt mines. As of 2024, however, the lawsuit was overturned by the Columbia Court of Appeals.

Despite active international effort to prevent the human and labour rights violations in the mines, demand for cobalt is only set to increase, with reports expecting it to reach 222,000 tonnes by 2025 (Al Jazeera, 2023). The fact remains that the act of mining itself heavily degrades the environment, thus undermining the very purpose of BEVs. This rising trend of extractivism as a development model, rooted in the hegemonic order of global capitalism poses social and environmental dangers across the globe in the long run.

This rising trend of extractivism as a development model, rooted in the hegemonic order of global capitalism poses social and environmental dangers across the globe in the long run.

However, using traditional cars is not the answer either, as carbon emissions continue to choke the atmosphere. Perhaps the only way forward is a complete overhaul of the way one looks at transportation and cities. Concrete change is possible through advocating for lesser use of cars, walkable cities, and public transport systems accompanied by a change in attitudes towards consumption and status culture. Conscious consumption is a duty, one that every individual would do well to keep in mind. Although climate change is not the sole burden of the individual, as corporations and media want to make it seem, there is plenty that one can do, starting with buying less.

Keywords

Electric vehicles, climate consciousness, industrial revolution, mercantilism, capitalism, Fordism, Carl Benz, Henry Ford, cars- status symbols, greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel, lithium battery, resource extraction ,labour regulations, Democratic Republic of Congo, child labour, child trafficking, ethical consumption, COTECCO, walkable cities

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