If you don't want to read it in detail, which also discusses the pollution angle, there is another linked article about the pollution differences between EV and Fossil Fuel vehicles.
One of the things which is very interesting from the first article is this.
Over the past decade or so, the picture has changed dramatically. Demand has surged to the point where child laborers can no longer meet it. About half of Congolese cobalt mines are owned by well-financed Chinese companies, and the vast majority of Congolese cobalt (about 80%) is now produced in mechanized open-pit mines with heavy equipment and not a child laborer in sight. However, cobalt is still profitable even for small mines, and so about 20% of Congo's cobalt is produced by artisanal mines doing things the old way. About 40,000 Congolese cobalt miners today are children, paid some $2 a day. That's a massive improvement over 10 years ago, but it's still obviously a big problem.
This is in STARK opposition to the Environ"menatlist" groups shrieking that EV's are driving children to work in mines. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. The need for such incredibly high volumes of cobalt and other metals has forced levels of investment that ensure children have no place in the mining. It also brings more money into the regions and gives parents more disposable income to send their children to school.
This is a radical departure from "accepted truth". In fact the best way to get the children out of the Congolese cobalt mines is to make demand for cobalt so high, at a price lower than today, that the volume required forces the move from human labour to machine labour. Forcing the children out of the mines forever.
Who would have thought it????
