The problem is that there is a kernel of truth in the bullshit. EV manufacturers do create a lot of hazardous waste, and mining lithium, cobalt, et al does horrifying damage to the earth and the people who live there. We should be talking about that, and how to improve it.

That’s not an argument against EVs, though. It’s a reason to improve them, to iterate on the design. These are important conversations to have.

But on one side, you have the capitalist who makes money if you buy a car that runs on gasoline. They want to use any criticism of electric transportation, public infrastructure, or regulations and turn it into a staunch defense of the status quo or worse.

And on the other side, you have the capitalist who makes money if you buy an electric vehicle. They want to dismiss any criticism of their technology, the required infrastructure, or regulatory capture as the death throes of the fossil fuel industry.

Those are the sides. Those are the loudest voices. They stand just behind any scientific research and shout their bullshit as though it was fully supported by whatever flimsy preliminary result they can pay to produce.

Too often, it’s the same capitalist. They profit from the chaos and confusion. They count on you giving up and moving on, because they make the most money when exhaustion and demagogeury prevents any meaningful debate. They shout because they know their arguments are bullshit, and they win because they pay for the process we use to select our leaders.

Ask your dad if he knows why people steal catalytic converters from ICE vehicles.

For anyone not aware, it’s because they’re filled with Palladium — a precious rare earth metal. One where 40% of the world’s supply comes from Russia.

Palladium’s prevalence in the Earth’s crust is about 0.015 ppm. Lithium’s prevalence is 20 ppm — or around 1300 times more abundant than palladium. Which is why people steal catalytic converters in the first place.

Your dad and mine somehow don’t remember how atrocious the old supply is and all the spill disasters are past mitigated events. Even when their own cars leak oil in the streets, make pretty rainbows, and gave them something else to tell their kids to not touch, it’s all… Normal. Inconsequential. It came from a factory they didn’t see leak and it does down a sewer into a system they can’t see. But, EV mines? We’ll if yours beleives the mines are dirtier than petrol cars, I assume it’s the same as mine: the belief that their crusty “old school” cars are being targeted for removal and that their way of life is at stake and that some elite progressive group wants to make them poor by way of expensive EVs. Just ignore the part where mine brags about affording ever-in creasing gas prices in a gas guzzler personal vehicle.

And we’re too dumb so we try to respond with facts but it’s 100% about their feelings.

You’ve got the nominee of the Republican party (and former president) literally saying this shit, and half the media going along with that, of course a huge amount of Americans are going to believe it.

But in a way he’s not wrong. The best car for the earth is the one you have right now. Don’t act like buying a electric vehicle because it is electric is good for the earth. Purchasing a new vehicle every five years is not good for the earth no matter what kind of vehicle you buy.