Norway to phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2025

benanderson89 wrote:

Whilst I'm all for cleaner alternatives, Electric simply isn't the way forward in its present state. For a start, the pollution created from the creation of the batteries alone is astronomical. The lifespan is so laughably short compared to a petrol engine (where batteries need replacements after 5-ish years and an engine will run for decades at a time), the next big problem will be battery disposal. In the European Paper "Science for Environmental Policy", it ranked Lithium Ion batteries second only to Nickle Metal Hydride batteries (Prius) as some of the absolute worst polluters. The paper found that only 9% (and that figure is being optimistic) of a battery can be recycled in developed nations. The rest of the battery, including heavy elements like Nickle and Cobalt, are destined for the landfill to seep into the ground and cause other forms of serious environmental havoc. We need more research into Nano Flow-Cell and/or graphene. What is ironic is that Norway is working on a Blue Crude facility that will manufacture 100,000L of synthetic petrol per year for, you guessed it, Combustion Engines. Granted, Blue Crude derived fuels in an engine can reduce pollution by up-to 80% as the vast majority of the nasty stuff in tail pipe emissions are left over from the crude oil itself (its why crude oil is black, after all). It'll be interesting to see how all of this develops. From what I've read elsewhere, many people in Norway are not happy about this.