Editorial: Mining’s EV halo dims

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. 

Mining’s association with planet-saving electric vehicles (EVs) was supposed to make mining, if not cool, at least more acceptable. Maybe even virtuous. 

But EVs have come under attack from both the political left and right — showing that mining can’t count on a halo effect from EVs to rehabilitate its image.  

In March, activists staged an arson attack at Tesla’s gigafactory in Grunhëide, 35 km outside of Berlin, that took out its power supply for almost a week. Tesla has plans to expand the facility, its only EV plant in Europe, to produce 1 million cars per year from just under 400,000. 

The Volcano Group, in a nearly 2,500-word letter, said it targeted the Tesla plant because it “consumes Earth, resources, people, labor and spits out 6,000 SUVs, killer cars and monster trucks per week.” 

In addition to being against “forced mining” of EV minerals, including “rare” lithium, the letter claimed the arson “lit a beacon against capital, patriarchy, colonialism and Tesla. We are countering the ongoing rape of the earth with sabotage.” 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk questioned the logic behind targeting EVs rather than gas-powered cars. He responded on X by calling the group “either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals.” 

Two months after the infrastructure attack, hundreds of protesters, many of whom had been camped in a forest outside the factory grounds for a week, tried to get onto the Tesla site. Police pushed them back. 

“Instead of SUVs for the few, we must build buses and trains for the many,” a spokesperson for the group Disrupt Tesla told Sky News on May 10.  

Main street concerns 

The problem is the anti-capitalist fringe aren’t the only ones upset by the gigafactory. Grunhëide residents also oppose the plant’s expansion, with 65% voting against it in a non-binding survey conducted in February. The results, and the high turnout of around 70%, reflect concerns over water pollution. The local water authority has warned the company “repeatedly” that it’s discharging more phosphorus and nitrogen in its wastewater than its permits allow, the German weekly Stern reported earlier this year.  

In mid-May, however, local councillors voted to allow the expansion. 

Here in Canada, Swedish battery maker Northvolt has also been targeted by acts of sabotage — despite the welcome mat rolled out by the federal and provincial governments.  

In May, home-made fire-bombs were found planted under heavy machinery at the company’s planned first stage 30-GWh battery facility site 30 km east of Montreal. Northvolt announced the $7-billion project in September with the federal and provincial governments kicking in around $1.3 billion in funding and agreeing to up to $4.6 billion in additional incentives to match manufacturing production credits under the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Northvolt expects to start producing battery components in late 2026. 

The site just outside of Montreal is controversial because it’s situated in a wetlands area and critics say the province circumvented its own environmental rules to allow the plant’s approval without a review by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE). The Mohawk Council of Kahnawá:ke also says it hasn’t been consulted about the project. A suit it brought against the province in January was rejected by the Quebec Superior Court.    

EV elites 

While activists target specific facilities for mainly environmental reasons, EVs also face a growing backlash fed by right-of-centre politicians ahead of upcoming elections this year in the European Union, U.K. and U.S. 

Eager to tap into voter discontent over the cost of living and job loss fears, some politicians have seized onto the pricey vehicles as an irresistible culture war symbol combining their distaste for government intervention in the economy, “liberal elites,” and anything ESG-related. Former U.S. president Donald Trump, for one, has vowed to kill the IRA tax incentives if he wins a second term in November. 

Analysts say the IRA will be too difficult to dismantle, and like Obamacare under Trump, would largely remain in place through a change in government. But politics is still one of the factors that’s recently dampened EV sales. Goldman Sachs cited uncertainty over continued political support for the sector in its recently updated forecast that says EV sales could actually fall by 2% this year, under a worst-case scenario. 

In comparison, its base case scenario sees EV sales rising by 21% this year.  

For some added perspective, according to the International Energy Agency, one in five cars sold last year were electric. That’s a 35% increase over 2022 — and a six-fold increase from 2018. 

To be sure, there are some valid concerns behind the current hostility toward EVs — affordability, sustainability, and transparency about government resources, among others. They need to be addressed. 

In the meantime, it’s clear that if automakers were nervous about the reputation of the miners that are now central to their business plans, it’s no longer a one-way street. Miners, too, need to turn the lens on their partners – whether buyers or governments.