Why Grid-Powered Public Transit Matters Too

Date: 07-06-2025 Update: 10-12-2025

Lithium-Ion Batteries and the Rare Earth Dilemma

The foundation of EVs is the lithium-ion battery, which depends heavily on rare earth elements like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. These elements are not only limited in quantity but also geographically concentrated. For example:

• Cobalt: Over 70% of the world’s supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, often mined under inhumane conditions, including child labor.
• Lithium: Extracted predominantly from South America’s Lithium Triangle and parts of China, the mining process consumes enormous water resources, impacting local ecosystems and communities.
• Nickel: Mining and refining nickel release significant carbon emissions and toxic waste.

This resource bottleneck creates a global dependence on a few countries and exposes the world to geopolitical risks, price volatility, and environmental degradation. In short, it replaces oil wars with mineral wars.

China Blocks mangnets for India alone

EVs: A Mirage of Sustainability

While EVs reduce tailpipe emissions, their production footprint is anything but clean. From mining and refining to battery manufacturing and disposal, the ecological costs are considerable. The battery lifecycle—from extraction to recycling—is neither circular nor regenerative at the current pace of technology.

Furthermore, replacing every internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle with an EV doesn’t reduce traffic congestion, urban sprawl, or energy waste. It merely shifts the burden from gasoline to metals and electricity, much of which is still generated from fossil fuels in many parts of the world.

Why Batteries Are Not Fundamentally About Rare Earth Metals

Batteries are not fundamentally about rare earth metals—they are about electrochemistry. A battery is a device that converts chemical energy directly into electrical energy through controlled electrochemical reactions. Each cell contains a cathode (positive electrode) and an anode (negative electrode), separated by an electrolyte that enables ions to move and complete the internal circuit while electrons flow through an external load. Because this process depends on the movement of ions and electrons, the electrodes do not inherently need to be made of rare earth materials.

Li-ion batteries dominate today, but they are far from the final stage of innovation. Battery prices continue to fall, and new chemistries are rapidly emerging. Sodium-ion batteries, zinc-based batteries, and even improved lead-acid systems offer alternatives that do not rely on scarce or geopolitically sensitive materials. Solid-state batteries are also pushing efficiency and safety forward, showing that the field is evolving beyond traditional lithium-ion technology.

Many of these alternatives come with additional advantages. Lead-acid batteries, for example, have an exceptionally high global recycling rate—often above 95%—making them one of the most recycled consumer products in the world. Sodium-ion batteries also avoid rare earths and lithium entirely, making them attractive for large-scale energy storage and low-cost applications.

However, no battery chemistry is without challenges. While sodium-ion batteries do not rely on rare earth metals, their production can still pose environmental concerns. China, one of the leading developers of sodium-ion technology, has limited natural reserves of soda ash and therefore produces synthetic soda ash in coal-powered chemical plants. This process contributes to hazardous water pollution and reinforces dependence on coal-based industrial inputs. These issues highlight that the sustainability of a battery depends not only on its chemistry but also on how and where its materials are produced.

Grid-Powered Public Transit

Rather than pouring resources into individualized transport options, we need a fundamental shift in how we move people, not just vehicles. The future lies in electrified public transport—not battery-powered buses, but grid-connected systems like:

• Trams and Light Rail Transit (LRT): Time-tested in European cities, they are efficient, reliable, and emit zero tailpipe emissions.
• Trolleybuses and Bus Trams: Electrified buses drawing power from overhead lines can operate on dedicated corridors, combining flexibility with energy efficiency.
• Solar-Integrated Infrastructure: Powering these systems with locally produced solar and wind energy ensures a sustainable and decentralized energy model.

These systems do not rely on rare earth metals in the same intensive way as EVs. Instead of each person owning a car with a massive battery, we can have shared, durable transport systems that draw energy directly from the grid in real time.

More Than Technology: A Cultural Shift

The over-reliance on EVs stems from a car-centric worldview that prioritizes individual ownership over collective wellbeing. This mindset must change. Sustainable urban mobility requires:

• Compact city planning with walkable neighborhoods
• Affordable and accessible public transit
• Policies to disincentivize car ownership

Free-Market Public Transport: Trolleybuses, Road Grids, and Sustainable Mobility

Trolleybuses and Light Rail Transit (LRT) are among the cheapest modes of transportation compared to high-speed rail. Privatized, crypto-based, and free-market-driven, self sustainable public transport can also operate by building road grids.

Conclusion

Electric vehicles are not a panacea. They are a costly detour that risks locking us into new forms of inequality, environmental harm, and geopolitical conflict. The true path to sustainability lies in rethinking mobility itself—not just electrifying the status quo, but rebuilding it altogether.

Instead of asking how we can make cars cleaner, we should be asking: how do we reduce our dependence on cars altogether? Grid-powered trams, buses, and collective transit systems offer a future that is not only cleaner but fairer, more efficient, and genuinely sustainable.