Amnesty faults electric vehicle batteries as carbon intensive - lithium ion batteries for sale
LONDON (Reuters )-
Amnesty International attacked the electric vehicle industry on Thursday, saying it was selling itself as an eco-friendly product while using contaminated fossil fuels and non-ethical sources of minerals to produce batteries.
A statement from the human rights group said that the manufacture of batteries may be carbon-intensive, and the extraction of minerals used from them is related to human rights violations such as child labor.
"Electric vehicles are the key to moving the automotive industry from fossil fuels to other industries, but there are no retailers who want us to believe that is ethical," the company said . " The initiative was announced at the Nordic electric vehicle summit in Oslo.
Production of lithium
The ion batteries of electric vehicles are power-intensive and factories are concentrated in China, South Korea and Japan, where electricity generation depends mainly on coal or other fossil fuels, Amnesty International said.
To boost production of electric vehicles, global automakers are investing billions of dollars.
German auto giant Volkswagen for one plans to increase the annual output of electric vehicles from 3 million in 2025 to 40,000 by 2018.
Amnesty International has asked the electric vehicle industry to come up with an ethical and clean battery within five years, while disclosing the carbon footprint and identifying the supply chain for key minerals.
A letter seen by Reuters last month showed that 14
Government organizations, including Amnesty International and the Global Witness organization, oppose the London Metal Exchange's plan to ban cobalt contaminated by human rights violations.
LME, they say, should work with companies that produce cobalt brands to ensure responsible sourcing, rather than banning cobalt brands.
(Report by Eric Onstad;