The journey through part 1 and part 2 was long and I hope rewarding. Finally we have reached the segment which I promised, the part where we discuss the doom nad gloom surrounding electric vehicles. Time to shift the setting from sunshine and rainbows to something more down-to-earth.
Manufacturing lithium ion batteries
Batteries require a cathode, anode and an electrolyte to store chemical energy. The reaction in a lithium ion battery is as follows:
Oxidation at anode:
LiC6 → C6 + Li+ + e–
Reduction at cathode:
CoO2 + Li+ + e– → LiCoO2
Full reaction (left to right = discharging, right to left = charging):
LiC6 + CoO2 ⇄ C6 + LiCoO2
As evidenced by the reactions, the battery requires cobalt and lithium in great quantities. Cobalt has a low natural abundance leading to a high cost. Even more concerning is the fact that most of the cobalt is mined in one country: the Democratic Republic of Congo. This wouldn’t be alarming on its own, except for the fact that they use child labour. Around 70% of the world’s cobalt is mined in Congo. According to an International Labour Organization’s report around 6,200 children are engaged in mining in the Haut-Katanga and Lualaba provinces. This cobalt is used in batteries for EVs and smartphones. The green vehicle revolution is coming at the cost of children’s lives.
We have established that obtaining cobalt is not just difficult but also quite unethical. What about lithium? Lithium is mined in two ways: a) as brine and, b) as a mineral. Brine is a water containing very high concentration of salt, much saltier than seawater. Lithium bearing rocks only occur in regions with ancient volcanic activity. Lithium was dissolved in the brine after years of weathering and erosion of rocks. The water basins were closed off and evaporation allowed lithium to concentrate in these areas as water content decreased in brine. Examples of these areas are the Atacama salt bed in Chile, Cauchari salt bed in Argentina, among others. The three countries of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia form a salt bed triangle of sorts due to their high concentration of salt bed occurences.
Lithium from brine is obtained by bringing ground water to the surface and sending it to large shallow areas named evaporation ponds. Water is evaporated here over a period of months to concentrate the salts and make lithium extration economically feasible. Evaporating such large amounts of water effectiviely removes it from the ecosystem. One ton of lithium requires 500,000 litres of water, and we thought AI was bad. The salt beds are naturally desert climates, reducing groundwater to such a level will destroy local ecosystems and will affect nearby communities. In Chile’s Salar de Atacama, lithium extraction by various companies has consumed 65 % of the region’s water supply in 2024.
Lithium-bearing minerals are spodumene and petalite which are mined primarily in Australia, Zimbabwe and Brazil. These countries lucked out as the procedure to obtain these minerals are quite similar to open mining and face the same challenges.
Lithium should be compared to oil in this case as both of these are used for chemical processes for vehicle propulsion. Oil refineries are very polluting, due to the release of hydrocarbons and other pollutants, this is without mentioning the devastation brought by oil drilling. Lithium refining is more specialized in a chemical sense due to the requirement of very pure lithium, contaminants can change battery characteristics. This causes all the pollution to be front loaded compared to the lifecycle emissions of an ICE vehicle.
Carbon dioxide emissions
Wait, what emissions? You just said zero tailpipe emissions. I did, dear reader, but production of electric energy does not occur without burning fossil fuels. The production of electric vehicles emit on average a higher carbon waste product but, as discussed before, the emissions occur in the manufacturing phase.
Petrol produces 2.305 g of carbon dioxide per litre burnt. Let us use the calculations from the lifetime comparison table in part 2. A Hyundai Creta SX(O) Premium Petrol will burn through 8108 litres of petrol in 15 years. The total carbon dioxide emission will be 18,688 g. Battery emissions are around 60-100 kg/kWh for EVs. Mahindra BE6 Pack Three has a 79 kWh battery, bringing carbon dioxide emissions to 4,740 – 7900 kg or 4-8 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Wow, that is devastating.
Most of the carbon dioxide waste comes from its manufacturing, charging and its mining process. Charging is being dealt with through the rapid shifting of energy sources, from conventional to renewable. Manufacturing is still a big issue but there are some solutions like using sodium batteries instead of lithium. Mining is the most critical since there is no other way to obtain lithium in such a large scale, or is there?
Recycling of electronics
E-waste is a global problem, around 2 tons of electronic garbage is thrown every second. Around 92 billion USD is sitting in recoverable e-waste material. Critical earth metals like lithium and cobalt are recovered at rates below 1%. Recycling is only undertaken when it is economically feasible, unfortunately recycling is rarely profitable. Copper and aluminium are recycled effectively but battery packs are designed to be sturdy to promote safety and security which acts as a huge barrier during their end-of-life. Battery pack dismantling, especially for EVs is time consuming and dangerous. Recycling has always been a sore spot for our civilization; plastic recycling faces ineffective enforcement and economic inviability while, on the other hand, semiconductor and battery devices are slowly and steadily raising pollution levels through manufacturing, testing failure, and end-of-life waste. The research for battery recycling is way behind the curve with respect to the waste currently being produced.
Where in the world do I find spare parts?
A simple spark plug or a relay change is not the challenge you will endure while repairing your EV. Indian customers are facing months long waits for minor issues. A report from June 2025 states that around 88% of India’s auto component players are experiencing research and development constraints. EV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are facing delays of 24 months. The early birds trusting the green promises of electric vehicles are now stuck with a very expensive steel box with wheels due to the in-development EV ecosystem. Your local mechanic is not capable of handling the intricacies of an electric vehicle; an engine timing issue was an easy to solve mechanical issue but PWM control of an electric motor requires far more equipment and very well-trained personnel.
On-air updates
Updates are the best and the worst thing invented in the software world. Updates allow developers to keep working on the application, implement new features, patch old bugs, exploits and fix cybersecurity issues. You must have noticed that when you update an application on your phone, the application becomes disabled for that time. The same happens for an operating system update where your phone becomes unusable. Your car is now an electronic appliance with its own software, what do you think will happen when that software is being updated?
A few victims of this issue exist. On 10 March 2024, a woman got stuck in her Tesla in Costa Mesa, California due to a software update. The air conditioner was not working because of the update so she was trapped in a greenhouse in sweltering California weather. The same type of situation in India will be even worse.
The Tesla Cybertruck faced software problems which led to the cars getting bricked in December 2024. In October 2025, Jeep recalled Wrangler 4xe models due to faulty on air updates, affecting around 24,000 vehicles. Rivian also pushed a wrong update and glitched the infotainment system in November 2023.
While the number of issues are still quite low, with the increasing percentage of electric vehicles, the density of incidents will most likely go up. More and more companies are using code generated by artificial intelligence, we are in for a ride, or maybe not because the car won’t start.
I thought using phones was dangerous?
Huge touchscreens are acting as the car’s control centre. Change the AC temperature? Fiddle around with the screen. I hit the highway and want to change the drive mode, fumble with the touchscreen to achieve it. A small list of the features controlled by a touchscreen is given here: TModel3. The list is quite shocking.
Allianz Center for Technology conducted a study and the results were alarming yet expected. Main concerns highlighted were:
- The accident risk due to the use of on-board computers increases by around 50 percent.
- Using the touchscreen in the car increases reaction time by 57 percent – comparable to using a phone at the wheel, which increases reaction time by 46 percent.
- Truck drivers need up to 20 seconds to select a song on Spotify, which halves their reaction speed.
A study conducted by the University of Washington and the Toyota Research Institute titled “Touchscreens in Motion: Quantifying the Impact of Cognitive Load on Distracted Drivers” gave some pretty solid conclusions. It reported “touchscreen pointing throughput decreasing by over 58.1% during driving conditions and lateral driving deviation increasing by 41.9% when touchscreen interactions were introduced. Under high cognitive load, participants demonstrated a 20.2% increase in pointing movement time, 16.6% decreased pointing throughput, and 26.3% reduced off-road glance durations.” Touchscreen pointing throughput means how accurately a person can use the screen and lateral driving deviation means how much the car was staying in its lane. All signs point to worse drivers in the future.
Tesla introduced a monster which has been adopted by quite a number of automakers. Physical buttons need to be manufactured, touchscreens are cheap and can be used to control all of the car’s features. The Euro NCAP has reacted to this information and has issued a warning that essential functions like indicators, hazard lights, wipers and horns must be physical. Imagine using a touchscreen for indicating a turn, the people who don’t indicate will increase because we are just lazy.
Charging headache
Charging infrastructure is a recent issue surrounding the adoption of EVs. As more and more people buy EVs, their destinations will become varied. A man needs to go to a rural area on some business, what will he take: his EV or a taxi that is most likely an IC vehicle? As of March 2026, India has around 26,000 charging points. The total number of EVs registered in February 2025 was 56.75 lakhs. An EV doesn’t have the same recharging speed as a petrol tank refill, it will take time which will in turn make lines even longer at the charging station if the number of EVs keep growing at the current rate. The data was of 2025 after all.
Temperature dependance
Batteries tend to discharge faster in cold temperatures. Tesla had an incident where charging centres became a Tesla graveyard in Chicago, Illinois in the USA. The battery packs were frozen and it took 20-30 minutes to thaw out before charging even began. All the charging points in the city were being used leading to cars piling up. To be fair here, this happened during an extreme cold wave of around -19°C to -29°C. Batteries will lose their range in this weather due to expending extra energy for the exothermic reaction to take place.
In conclusion?
The winding journey of this trilogy doesn’t have a fixed conclusion due to the present development pace of this technology; EVs may become the only kind of vehicles or these may crash and burn. I want to give you all the facts and leave the conclusion to you. In my opinion, electric vehicles will take over but we started commercialization too early without looking into the alternatives. The temperature issues, lithium and cobalt pitfalls, and rising e-waste show a dangerous trend that industries will run with the first solution without waiting for further research. Electronic recycling and the emergence of sodium batteries also prove this issue. But, then again, would advancements in science even happen if there wasn’t a demand driving it (that pun just wrote itself, I swear)?
To be fair to EVs, atleast I don’t have to fill petrol contaminated with 20% ethanol, it is comparable to paying full price for 20% less water in a water bottle. Ethanol production is an industry that uses a lot of water. Here is a fun assignment, check the raw materials used for ethanol production and search up CIAN Agro. Maybe the pieces will fall into place?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Ques: What are original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)?
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are companies that design and produce vehicles or major vehicle components under their own brand names. In the electric vehicle industry, OEMs such as Tesla, Tata Motors, and BYD manufacture EVs, motors, and related systems. OEMs are responsible for vehicle development, assembly, quality control, and integration of technologies supplied by different vendors.
Ques: Why do batteries lose range in extreme cold?
EV batteries lose range in extreme cold because low temperatures slow down the chemical reactions inside lithium-ion cells. This reduces the battery’s ability to deliver power efficiently and increases internal resistance. Cold weather also requires additional energy for cabin heating and battery warming systems, which further drains the battery.
Ques: Is there any way to decrease EV charging times?
EV charging times can be reduced using fast-charging technologies, improved battery chemistries, and higher-voltage battery architectures. DC fast chargers supply direct current at very high power levels, allowing batteries to charge much faster than standard AC chargers. Advances in power electronics, solid-state batteries, and better thermal management systems also help improve charging speed while maintaining battery safety and lifespan.
| Charging Type | Power Output | Typical Time for 20–80% Charge | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slow AC Charging | 2–3 kW | 10–20 hours | Home charging overnight |
| Standard AC Charging | 7–11 kW | 4–8 hours | Home wallbox or office charging |
| Three-Phase AC Charging | 22 kW | 2–4 hours | Commercial chargers |
| DC Fast Charging | 50 kW | 45–90 minutes | Highway charging |
| High-Speed DC Charging | 100–150 kW | 20–40 minutes | Premium EV fast charging |
| Ultra-Fast DC Charging | 250–350 kW | 10–20 minutes | Latest high-end EV infrastructure |
Ques: What steps are the Indian govt. taking to promote EV adoption?
The Government of India is promoting EV adoption through several policies and incentive programs. Major initiatives include the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme and the newer PM E-DRIVE scheme, which provide subsidies for EV purchases and charging infrastructure. The government has also launched the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries and automobile manufacturing to encourage domestic EV and battery production. Additional measures include GST reduction on EVs and chargers, support for public charging networks, registration fee waivers, and purchase incentives to accelerate the transition toward electric mobility. Road tax of EVs and HEVs are far lower than ICE vehicles, though these policies are determined at state level.
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