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2024-05-29 -Land of the Free
Guess The Charging Station Fraud Really Isn't Important in the Long Run:Study: The Amount of Copper Needed for EVs Is ‘Impossible for Mining Companies to Produce’
[Breitbart] A recent study from the University of Michigan has shed light on a critical challenge facing the global transition to electric vehicles: the inability of copper mining to keep pace with the growing demand.

Engineering & Technology reports that copper, a crucial component in electricity generation, distribution, and storage, is fundamental to the successful implementation of policies aimed at promoting the adoption of EVs. However, a recent study from the University of Michigan, titled “Copper mining and vehicle electrification,” has revealed that the current rate of copper production is insufficient to meet the projected demand for the metal in the coming years.

According to GlobalData, there are over 709 operational copper mines worldwide, with the Escondida mine in Chile being the largest, producing an estimated 882,100 tons of copper in 2023. Despite this seemingly huge output, the rapid pace of electrification globally is outstripping the mining industry’s ability to keep up. In fact, the authors state that, “We show in the paper that the amount of copper needed is essentially impossible for mining companies to produce.”

The Michigan study highlights the fact that an EV requires three to five times more copper than traditional gas or diesel cars, not to mention the additional copper needed for upgrades to the electricity grid. As Professor Adam Simon from the University of Michigan points out, “A normal Honda Accord needs about 40 pounds of copper. The same battery electric Honda Accord needs almost 200 pounds of copper.”

The researchers analyzed 120 years of global data on copper production, dating back to 1900, and modeled the likely copper production for the remainder of the century. They compared this with the projected copper requirements for the US electricity infrastructure and vehicle fleet to transition to renewable energy. The study concluded that renewable energy’s copper needs would exceed the current production capacity of copper mines.

Between now and 2050, the world will need to mine 115 percent more copper than has been mined in all of human history up until 2018, just to meet current copper needs without considering the green energy transition. To meet the copper demands of electrifying the global vehicle fleet, as many as six new large copper mines must be brought online annually over the next several decades, with about 40 percent of the production from these new mines being required for EV-related grid upgrades.

The study suggests that instead of fully electrifying the entire US fleet of vehicles, focusing on manufacturing hybrid vehicles might be a more feasible approach. Professor Simon notes, “We know, for example, that a Toyota Prius actually has a slightly better impact on climate than a Tesla. Instead of producing 20 million EVs in the US and, globally, 100 million battery EVs each year, would it be more feasible to focus on building 20 million hybrid vehicles?”

Posted by NoMoreBS 2024-05-29 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11139 views ]  Top
 File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats 

#1 White House on Slow EV Charger Pace: Have to Do More Work to Ensure We Can Spend on Charging Stations
Posted by Skidmark 2024-05-29 04:20||   2024-05-29 04:20|| Front Page Top

#2 Keep our Tweaker Theft Economy replenished
Posted by Frank G 2024-05-29 06:51||   2024-05-29 06:51|| Front Page Top

#3 So the penny will be the next 10 or 20 dollar bill awesome and that change shortage was a farce to get all the idiots to turn in their loose change awesome!
Posted by Jack+Creanter7508 2024-05-29 07:44||   2024-05-29 07:44|| Front Page Top

#4 I'm guessing the delay was caused by the administration's desire not to use anything a Tesla could hook up to.
Posted by Cleared Cookies Lost Nic 2024-05-29 07:51||   2024-05-29 07:51|| Front Page Top

#5 (Dem logic): buy the copper from the recycled metals market. Sometimes its even available in handy ‘replacement charger station cord’ lengths……
Posted by USN, Ret. 2024-05-29 08:50||   2024-05-29 08:50|| Front Page Top

#6 Um... wasn't this known (and half of Rantburg's commenters saying the same thing) years and years ago?
Posted by Raj 2024-05-29 09:18||   2024-05-29 09:18|| Front Page Top

#7 IIRC Raj, you are correct. I do remember the same things being said about Lithium too.
Posted by alanc 2024-05-29 09:40||   2024-05-29 09:40|| Front Page Top

#8 ^ Correct. But that's leftism in a nut shell (pun intended) - never let reality constrain your pie-in-the-sky grifting schemes.

And shout down anyone who points the real problems out.
Posted by M. Murcek 2024-05-29 09:47||   2024-05-29 09:47|| Front Page Top

#9 Lots of what we used to call "predictive analysis" (PA) conducted here. I have often wondered if the Burg is actually an UNCLAS PA site in disguise.

Fred: Comments ?

Posted by Besoeker 2024-05-29 10:29||   2024-05-29 10:29|| Front Page Top

#10 The same issue holds for “renewable” generation. Each windmill requires a lot of copper, not only in the device itself, but primarily in the conductor that connects the windmill with the grid. Their total electrification dream is a fantasy.
Posted by Remoteman 2024-05-29 11:30||   2024-05-29 11:30|| Front Page Top

#11 It a dream with a lot of missing money.
Posted by Super Hose 2024-05-29 11:38||   2024-05-29 11:38|| Front Page Top

#12 That moron Rogan asked Musk if there will ever be an EV that self charges with on board solar panels and Musk calmly said no, the sun delivers X watts per square meter and photovoltaic cells top out at some pathetic conversion percentage of that, so it is physically impossible.
Posted by M. Murcek 2024-05-29 11:48||   2024-05-29 11:48|| Front Page Top

#13 Strap This Wind Turbine To Your Electric Car To Stay Juiced

Posted by Skidmark 2024-05-29 13:27||   2024-05-29 13:27|| Front Page Top

#14 The aging power grid is the bigger issue. Other than some localized upgrades, the vast majority of our nations electrical distribution and generating system is woefully undersized. There are slim alternative sources/routing in case of damage. In light of this, we're unable to accommodate the increased power demands of the numbers of chargers that will be required for for the pipe dream of so many EV's. For the foreseeable future, the proposed added number of solar bird burnersfarms or big spinning fans will be enough.
Posted by Mullah Richard 2024-05-29 15:00||   2024-05-29 15:00|| Front Page Top

#15 So the penny will be the next 10 or 20 dollar bill
Pennies are made of zinc with a very thin coating od copper.
Posted by Deacon+Blues 2024-05-29 15:03||   2024-05-29 15:03|| Front Page Top

#16 Once again, we see the divide between People of Words and People of Things.

In the Land of Words, you can change the world by making marks on paper and nothing is connected to anything else. Raise the minimum wage to $25/hour without affecting the rest of the economy. Declare that everyone will drive EVs by 2030. No need to worry about necessary infrastructure.

The People of Things know that every complex system is a network. An electrician knows that to get power at a wall outlet, you need a connection to the breaker panel. The breaker panel needs a connection to the power pole. The wires on the power pole lead to substation and on to the power plant. Take away any of those and there is no power at the wall outlet, no matter what the marks on paper say.

To build an EV charging station, you need wires to a power source. The power source needs fuel. Copper must be mined to make the wires. You need transmission lines, easements, and an excess of electricity over what is produced now. Let's not forget the environment impact statements and inevitable lawsuits.

If these buffoons were serious about electrification, they would be building new power plants left and right, and beefing up the electric grid. The fact that none of this is being done says it will never happen.

Every complex system is a network and arithmetic wins in the end.
Posted by SteveS 2024-05-29 20:54||   2024-05-29 20:54|| Front Page Top

#17 #9 Lots of what we used to call "predictive analysis" (PA) conducted here. I have often wondered if the Burg is actually an UNCLAS PA site in disguise.

Good question! In addition to WoT news, snark, and poetry, there is a lot of fascinating insight here at the 'Burg from people whose backgrounds I shall merely describe as "interesting". It makes for a nice antidote to mainstream media pablum.
Posted by SteveS 2024-05-29 21:14||   2024-05-29 21:14|| Front Page Top

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