DECODING THE HIDDEN ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE ADOPTION

Since last 50 years, the world has been witnessing a lot of environmental issues like climate change, global warming, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, to name a few. All of these are the result of human activities. The answer to protect the environment lies in sustainable development. Sustainable development goal no. 7 clearly talks about affordable and clean energy. Energy is required for various day-to-day activities in human life. Conventionally, energy is obtained from non-renewable resources like fossil fuel, coal, etc. These resources are not only exhaustible but also harmful to the environment. Energy harvested from renewable resources like sunlight, wind, water, etc. is environment friendly. Transport industry is one of the major users of total energy produced in the country. In India, vehicles contribute 27% of the country’s air pollution. The government has pushed forward the electric vehicle policy whereby it intends to replace conventional automobiles which runs on petrol, diesel, etc. with electric vehicles through various schemes. Public transport system like buses and trains now ran on electricity. Electric vehicles (EVs) for personal uses like cars and two-wheelers are also available. However, now it is increasingly realized that these EVs are not that environment friendly as they were initially thought to be. This research paper will highlight the hidden environmental risks that the EVs pose to the environment. There are at least three different ways in which EVs can affect the environment. First, EVs use lithium-ion battery. The mining of lithium itself is a costly affair in terms of environmental harm as lithium mining causes tonnes of air pollution along with using a lot of water. Second, the EVs use electricity as a source of their energy. In India more than 50% electricity is still produced from non-renewable resources. Third, when their life is over, lithium-ion batteries also form part of E-waste. However, still there is no proper disposal mechanism globally for these batteries.