Green energy: Transport

Allan Little looks at the challenges we face as we wean ourselves off gas and oil to renewable sources powering our cars, trucks, ships and aeroplanes. Green transport is crucial to a net zero future, but how transparent are the supply chains bringing the world the components we need? And how green is the electricity we are using to power electric cars anyway?

Cobalt and Lithium, two essential minerals crucial for electric car batteries are mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile - and at great human and environmental cost. Transport accounts for over a third of our Carbon Dioxide emissions worldwide; there is no other option but to switch to electric vehicles. However motorists are often still sceptical about electric cars; they’re perceived to be expensive, difficult to recharge and unable to manage long distances.

One of the biggest motor companies in the world, Ford, has just launched its first Electric Truck – targeting America’s blue-collar workers with this rugged, powerful, green machine. Will it work? Apart from driving, it is being marketed as offering independence and freedom from the grid; at the flick of a switch the trucks can send electricity back the other way, and can power a home for days.

Image: A miner collects small chunks of cobalt inside the CDM (Congo DongFang Mining) Kasulo mine in Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018 (Credit: Sebastian Meyer via Getty Images)