Quartararo+-+Don't+Worry

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Nickel Mining – The Dark Side of Hybrid Cars In today’s society, hybrid vehicles are being heralded as a new era in consumer vehicles. They offer superior gas mileage while being just as powerful to their gasoline only counterparts, all for a comparable price. However, there is an unbeknownst “dark side” to this equation, and that is the one of materials that are used in the making of the batteries for these vehicles. Nickel mining is an important component for the electric storage for these hybrids, and has an environmental impact that is not widely known.

In an article on NewCarPark.com, they state the following: “Most hybrids use a nickel metal hydride system, which requires nickel mining, which is often done in open cast mines with all the attendant pollution that goes along with excavating large holes in the ground. Luckily, nickel metal hydride batteries are non-toxic and they can be recycled, but at a cost.” This pollution is what the majority of people do not know about. In a specific article on Wikipedia, “Many wetlands have either been lost or spoiled. Rivers and streams have been choked with tailings from the waste material dumped from the nickel mines. This has resulted in rise in bed levels of the rivers and consequent flooding affecting fertile agricultural lands. Many river delta areas have been affected creating changes in aquatic flora and fauna; the mining effluents are reported to have affected about 40 streams in their middle and lower reaches. Even estuaries and bays are reportedly affected by the “red clay and lateritic sub-soil,” which covers some of the mangrove forests.” Another article from Cuba talks about how the mining process discharges heavy metals and other wastes into the surrounding environment: “Nickel lateritic mining and metallurgical actives are carried out in tropical and subtropical areas……. These discharges are favored by the open-cut methods used in lateritic deposits. Air-borne particles, solid tailings and liquid wastes generated by nickel-processing industries can also be important sources of heavy metals for the aquatic environment.”

Thankfully, nickel batteries are not the worst; lead batteries are considered to be inherently inferior to other types of batteries, and the foulest for the environment. In an article from HybridCars.com it states the following: “According to a 2003 report entitled, "Getting the Lead Out," by Environmental Defense and the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., an estimated 2.6 million metric tons of lead can be found in the batteries of vehicles on the road today. While lead recycling is a mature industry, it's impossible to rescue every car battery from the dump. More than 40,000 metric tons of lead are lost to landfills every year. According to the federal Toxic Release Inventory, another 70,000 metric tons are released in the lead mining and manufacturing process. According to a 2003 report entitled, "Getting the Lead Out," by Environmental Defense and the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., an estimated 2.6 million metric tons of lead can be found in the batteries of vehicles on the road today.” Luckily, we have moved past lead batters and are even moving away from nickel batteries in favor of lithium ion batteries, which are more efficient and are not as toxic to the environment.

In one study, “The analysis shows that the hybrid and electric cars have advantages over the others. The economics and environmental impact associated with use of an electric car depends substantially on the source of the electricity. If electricity comes from renewable energy sources, the electric car is advantageous to the hybrid vehicle. If the electricity comes from fossil fuels, the electric car remains competitive only if the electricity is generated on-board. If the electricity is generated with an efficiency of about 50–60% by a gas turbine engine connected to a high-capacity battery and electric motor, the electric car becomes superior in many respects.” So right now, hybrid vehicles are a great option.

Overall, hybrid cars are an improvement to general consumer vehicles and are not the worst choice you can make. Obviously a large SUV or truck will be way worse to the environment, but I still believe there is a better option, which is hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but they are still in development and will need time to mature.

 []  [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_mining_in_New_Caledonia#Environmental_impact_due_to_Nickel_mining]  []  []  Economic and environmental comparison of conventional, hybrid, electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles - Mikhail Granovskii, Ibrahim Dincer *, Marc A. Rosen - Journal of Power Sources 159 (2006) 1186–1193