Electric Vehicle batteries = needed energy storage
That presentation of that particular study was rather negative and narrowly constructed: it really only considers the status quo for EVs and not the most likely path for the near future, which is much more positive than implied here. For example, yes it costs the environment a lot to mine the rare-earth and heavy metal minerals for new battery technology-- but soon it is very likely that batteries will be recycled to conserve these resources when the EV markets gets large enough.
As for powering our EVs by building more coal plants-- that would be environmentally stupid. The study is correct in concluding that charging our EVs from existing coal power plants is not a net win for the atmosphere or environment generally. That will have to change soon. We should be replacing the oldest coal-fire plants with nuclear power plants already-- and adding new nuclear power plants to charge all those EV batteries-- and then the carbon footprint for driving would indeed go way, way down.
Finally, it should be noted that the biggest problem with expanding large-scale onshore wind electricity generation, which is almost cost-competitive in some parts of North America and Europe with natural gas powered electricity (aside from the aesthetic and environmental impact of using up a lot of land for wind turbines of course)-- is that fact that wind is highly variable, and so typical electricity grids cannot use it for more than about 20% of their power load. This would not be the case if 30% to 40% of a nation's electricity were being used to charge EVs-- those batteries can be designed to charge from an intermittent or variable power source just fine. Unlike for example the internet, the streetlights, or your home microwave oven which will definitely suffer if the electric power grid supply varies, with large fluctuations. I foresee a plan in the near future to coordinate EV charging city-wide through the Internet or a similar structure, so EV battery chargers switch on when the winds are high and then idle when the winds are low. This could easily be done with existing technology at an affordable price. Hey... maybe I should patent that before you read about it here. (ooops, too late. Acknowledge me as your inspiration in the credits on your patent application please.) To conclude, EVs WILL reduce the fossil fuel footprint of any nation that gets serious about building wind turbines and nuclear power plants instead of coal or gas plants to provide the extra electricity to charge all those new EVs. Solving the world's climate and environmental problems requires a systemic approach, and no one piece of the solution will work as well by itself without the other pieces. This study-- or this review of this study-- seems to emphasize the negative problems of today without noting that EVs provide a very near-term path to a better future not far away, using existing technologies.
