ANALYSIS: Toxicity of Lithium-Ion Batteries at Odds With Push for Electric Vehicles

Australian company AVZ Minerals Limited runs this lithium mine in the Manono region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, shown in May 2022. Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images

Government leaders are pushing for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), but there are concerns about the vast amounts of mineral mining necessary for battery production and the ensuing waste management issues taking a toll on the environment.

Lithium, the primary component of an EV battery, can be highly environmentally polluting in its extraction and discarding phases.

A major issue with lithium mining is the quantity of water required. Mining just 1 ton of lithium can use up to 2.2 million gallons of water, according to AZO Cleantech. This results in the depletion of water sources close to mining regions and drying out of land, posing a threat to not only the environment of the region but also communities living in the vicinity.

Lithium batteries use various elements like nickel, copper, and lead, which can all be toxic.

The open-pit mining method of extracting minerals required for batteries involves clearing out vegetation and digging a deep pit, creating the circumstances for erosion, according to UL Research Institutes.

According to a January 2023 study by the Climate and Community Project, if America’s current EV demand is projected to 2050, the U.S. market would need three times the current world supply of lithium to meet the demand. This requires a massive expansion of mining activities that can bring about enormous changes to landscapes and living conditions.

The Real Carbon Footprint

A 2019 study by Circular Energy Storage (pdf) calculated that production of an NCM111 lithium battery results in 73 kilograms of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions per kilowatt-hour (kWh). NCM111 batteries contain one-third nickel, one-third cobalt, and one-third manganese in the cathode.

This means a considerable carbon footprint is generated by an electric vehicle before it hits the road compared to cars with an internal combustion engine.

Over 50 percent of the world’s lithium resources are said to be lying beneath salt flats in the Andean regions of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Lithium mining and other mining activities have consumed 65 percent of the water in Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flat in Chile. This has depleted groundwater and contaminated the soil.

In Tibet, lithium mining from Chinese operations has reportedly leaked chemicals like hydrochloric acid into the Liqi River, which ended up killing livestock and poisoning the fish, according to the Harvard International Review.

Deadly Lithium Fires

Fires triggered by lithium-ion batteries are another concern with the increasing use of EVs.

In New York City in 2022, there were 220 fires caused by the batteries in e-micromobility devices, such as e-bikes, up from 44 fires in 2020, Mayor Eric Adams’ office announced in March.

“These fires are particularly severe and difficult to extinguish, spreading quickly, and producing noxious fumes,” officials said in a news release.

Between 2021 and 2022, such fires resulted in 226 injuries and 10 deaths, city officials said. In the first two months of 2023, 40 injuries and two deaths have been linked to battery fires. E-bike usage shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic after the bikes were legalized in New York.

Thousands of delivery workers rely on these devices for their jobs, officials said.

Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn pointed out that incidents of electric batteries exploding have happened both when they were being charged and otherwise. This has resulted in many areas of the city opting to ban the batteries in the devices.

“Lithium-Ion batteries are known to unexpectedly re-ignite (without warning) minutes, hours and even days after all visible fire has been put out,” the FDNY warned in a report on safety recommendations (pdf). The batteries “can enter an uncontrollable, self-heating state. This can result in the release of gas, cause fire and possible explosion.”

In January, a Tesla Model S burst into flames in California while the driver was on Highway 50, causing two eastbound lanes to close. The battery reportedly “spontaneously” caught fire, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

Firefighters used about 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze as the lithium battery “continued to combust,” with officials making use of car jacks to lift the vehicle in order to put out the fire underneath it.

The amount of water needed to put out lithium fires is much higher than in fires from gas-powered vehicles.

Electronic Waste Risks

The increasing use of electric lithium batteries also poses a challenge about how to discard them without harming the environment.

Scott Thibodeau is the general manager of environmental services and solutions at Veolia North America, the second largest hazmat removal service in the United States. Thibodeau told The Epoch Times in September that safety is the greatest challenge associated with these batteries.

Thibodeau pointed out that lithium-ion batteries can’t be dumped or recycled as easily as other materials because of the chemistry of the components. Over 6 million EV battery packs are set to become scrap by 2030.

In China, decommissioned electric car batteries are estimated to hit 780,000 tons by 2025.

“A 20-gram cell phone battery can pollute a water body equivalent to three standard swimming pools. If it is buried in the ground, it can pollute one square kilometer (247 acres) of land for about 50 years,” Wu Feng, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, told The Epoch Times in 2021.

Electric car batteries are much larger than cell-phone batteries and will thus have bigger impacts. According to Li Yongwang, a chemical engineering expert in China, burying electric batteries poses a danger to people’s lives since they can explode from heat.

In the United States, the federal government and various state governments are currently promoting the shift to electric vehicles by insisting that it will be good for the environment.

The Biden administration is offering incentives for the purchase of such vehicles via the Inflation Reduction Act.

In August 2021, Biden announced that half of all cars and trucks sold in the United States by 2030 should be electric. States like California intend to ban the sale of gas cars by 2035.

Autumn Spredemann and Shawn Li contributed to this report.