The production of electric vehicle batteries can increase sulfur dioxide pollution. China and India will face different challenges.
On the path towards sustainable energy, electric vehicles are essential, but a new study from Princeton University highlights a huge challenge: refining minerals essential for battery development can cause pollution hotspots near manufacturing centers.
According to the , the research focused on China and India and revealed that completely domesticating supply chains for electric vehicle production could increase national emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) by up to 20% compared to current levels.
The majority of these emissions would come from the refining and production of nickel and cobaltcrucial materials in the batteries of modern electric vehicles.
According to the results, those responsible for the investigation emphasize that countries must think strategically about building clean supply chains as they develop decarbonization plans.
In the particular case of battery manufacturing, the team highlights the importance of developing and imposing strict air pollution standards to avoid unintended consequences of the transition to electric vehicles, in addition to suggesting the development of alternative chemistries to avoid SO2 emissions.
Both China and India have good reasons to avoid SO2 emissions, as the compound is a precursor to fine particles and contributes to a number of cardiovascular and respiratory problems.
Both countries already suffer from high levels of air pollution and, in 2019 alone, around 1.4 million premature deaths in China and around 1.7 million premature deaths in India were attributed to exposure to fine particles.
It turns out that, when it comes to the development of electric vehicles, countries are at different levels, with India still in the initial phase of supply chain development.
This comparison helped experts identify near-term priorities as they continue or begin to build a domestic supply chain for electric vehicles.
If, for India, the easiest strategy would be to clean up pollution from the energy sector by applying strict SO2 pollution control measures for thermal power plants, China, which already has strict emissions controls for the energy sector, would need to mitigate SO2 emissions in the battery manufacturing process.
The latest discoveries were published in Environmental Science & Technology.
