"Electric vehicles do not solve the fundamental problems with cars. The construction of electric vehicles is as carbon-intensive, if not more so, than that of conventional cars powered by fossil fuels. More important, cars themselves damage the climate in many ways above and beyond their gas consumption. Cars are constructed out of materials that are very difficult to produce. The excessive steel in cars is incredibly climate-unfriendly to produce. The many superfluous electronics in cars contain rare earth metals and require expensive, shipping-intensive manufacturing processes. The fact that cars are heavier and larger than they need to be means that all cars, including electric ones, are incompatible with a livable future.

President Biden is promoting and stimulating investment in electric cars, presenting them as a solution to climate catastrophe. This ignores the fact that electric vehicles bring a host of new problems, and do not address the vast majority of problems arising from the use of fossil-fuel-powered cars. Residents of car-dependent cities and suburbs are forced to drive small distances in extremely overweight and oversized vehicles. A switch of propulsion does not resolve this issue, nor does it resolve that of  carbon-expensive roadway maintenance. Electric vehicles are a popular investment because they don’t disrupt the status quo; most automotive material suppliers are entirely unaffected by the shift to electric vehicles.

XR is not protesting car lovers or driving hobbyists. Those forced to drive because of car-dependent infrastructure are being told that they can help solve climate change by switching to an electric vehicle.The truth is that unchecked car production, no matter the type of propulsion, is pushing us towards extinction.

WHY “NO EVs ON A DEAD PLANET?”

Automobile production-as-usual won't be possible on Earth if humanity fails to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. If we continue at our current pace of production expansion, there won’t be enough resources to meet car production demand, EV and gas-powered alike.

Construction of an electric vehicle requires immense amounts of resources that are rare and difficult to obtain. Steel, electronics, batteries (and the lithium they contain), and the concrete and asphalt infrastructure cars require, all involve extremely high-emission production. For every EV produced, 900 kg of highly polluting coal-based steel will be used, which will then go unrecycled due to copper contamination from wiring in EVs. The steel industry, already responsible for 11% of global CO2 emissions and over 10% of global resource extraction, is set to triple in size by 2050, with this growth driven primarily by the auto industry.

Lithium mining is also causing disastrous environmental damage throughout the world, as well as human rights abuses. Lithium batteries are not yet recyclable, and their lifespans are short. Swapping out oil extraction for a different extraction is not a net improvement. As with oil, the resources required for EV production are finite.

In Nevada, Thacker Pass (known as Peehee Mu’huh in Paiute), a vast nature preserve, has the largest known lithium deposit in the country and one of the largest in the world. Following a month of nonviolent protests at the site, six activists are facing lawsuits from Lithium Nevada Corporation. This is an attempt to suppress constitutionally protected free speech and protest. In a groundbreaking move for the American legal system, the defense is asserting a biodiversity necessity defense."

https://www.xrebellion.nyc/news/no-electric-vehicles-on-a-dead-planet