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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Graham Readfearn

A cut-and-paste attack on electric vehicle batteries and renewables is spanning the globe. But is it right?

Solar panels on a roof
The copy-pasted extracts from a text essay also claims solar panels cannot be recycled, which is no longer accurate. Photograph: David Mariuz/AAP

Across social media, internet forums and some climate science denier blogs, there has been furious cutting-and-pasting of chunks of common text attacking the environmental credentials of electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines.

About 200 tonnes of the “Earth’s crust” needs to be mined for each electric vehicle battery, and 11 tonnes of brine are needed just for the lithium, claims the text, which also says solar panels and wind turbine blades can’t be recycled.

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