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Trolleybuses better than ‘disastrous’ lithium
I write regarding the article (October Buses) about BYD in China and its battery electric buses. It was a thoughtprovoking piece, which threw up some questions in my mind.
■ Lithium is an expensive mineral to mine. It is not environmentally friendly to mine or process, requiring toxic chemicals to extract the lithium from the ore. The damage done to communities in the Andes close to lithium mines is nothing short of disastrous and life changing not in a good way.
■ Lithium is highly toxic and flammable even when mixed with other chemicals. Just ask Boeing and Tesla about lithium. In fact you cannot fly lithium batteries around the world without specific precautions being taken.
There is as yet no means to recycle dead lithium or lithium mix batteries. Therefore because lithium batteries do not last forever who w…
