‘Blood cobalt’ is disappearing from batteries – and cheaper, cleaner batteries are arriving

Canva, Pexels, The Conversation, CC BY-NC

You might have heard the common claim that electric cars aren’t really green – that their lithium-ion batteries rely on “blood” minerals such as cobalt, mined in terrible conditions.

The critique had some truth to it. But this claim is no longer accurate. Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers have been shifting away from cobalt because it’s expensive, toxic and ethically fraught.