Some thoughts on EV and use of natural resources

One of our regular letter senders, Raymond Tumao, tackles developments in the EV (electric vehicle) industry and brought out some thoughts about better use of our natural resources. Please read on.

“I could not help but to write you about a very important and crucial matter in the US automotive industry. Tesla, the company of Elon Musk, has projected to build a million Tesla electric cars by 2020 and that means an equal volume or more production of lithium batteries to make these cars useful on the road.

“Elon Musk’s marketing strategy made investors put their ears on the ground expecting the demand for Tesla cars to increase without giving any attention to the fuel Tesla needs. 

“Tesla runs on lithium battery power, but the future is not in lithium but in cobalt, a by-product of copper and nickel, which are both indigenous and abundant in our country. 

“The world’s largest supplier of cobalt is the Democratic Republic of Congo and some parts in Africa like Zambia. Cobalt is used as a composite material in making steel alloy. 

Exporting copper and nickel

“Steel is the heart of the industrial revolution in mainland China and the demand just keeps growing. If you go to Surigao, you will notice that there are ocean vessels waiting to load nickel ores and laterites pre-ordered in China and Korea. 

“Copper and nickel have international market prices, but if you are to use them as raw materials locally, you do not have to import the finished product and you practically reduce the US dollar outflow aside from not having to pay import duties and taxes. 

“However, mining companies prefer to ship them out immediately and collect the payment ASAP. The previous DENR secretary could not stop mining these ores because many people know that she owns a mining firm which controls the Malampaya gas reserves and it is a realistic evidence of oligarchy. 

“Is this not related to the mining of these metals? Well, if assuming we make a law to open all types of mining operations and allow private corporations to build daughter stations for CNG sales around the Malampaya area, will there be any conflict with the Lopez-controlled power plants? 

Using Malampaya as transport fuel

“The Malampaya CNG could have improved our economy instead of selling the CNG to the power plants SPEX sells it directly to the transport industry as fuel for commercial CNG buses to lower the cost of transporting people and goods. 

“Power plants can still use coal-fired plants to generate electricity as long as our country still accepts surplus vehicles and non-Euro compliant public transport to proliferate. For everyone’s information, the first and last CNG refilling station was built in the Mamplasan SLEX Shell Station, but was ultimately dismantled due to conflict of interest with the mother station. 

“CNG used to be transported in Mats manufactured by AG&P from the Batangas plant to its SLEX station and it naturally could not meet the demands of the ever growing needs of the bus operators who imported almost 200 CNG buses during the time of GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo). 

“I am just sharing the above information to all who would want to venture in to the industries involving electric vehicles, commercial CNG buses, alternative fuels, and the business of manufacturing the modern types of batteries that are expected to run our future generations.

Exporting raw materials vs. local use

“I hope people would be more practical nowadays because we seem to export a lot of raw materials at market-controlled prices and import the same raw materials as finished products, thereby siphoning out foreign currency while paying more taxes for importing and selling it locally. 

“A good example is the black sand mined locally and exported to China to produce steel for the manufacture of construction materials and industrial equipment, and which re-enters our country as finished product. 

“The question is: Which option provides more income to our government? Is it the mining and exportation of raw materials or preserving our raw materials for local consumption?

Jeepneys put Clean Air Act on hold 

“I strongly suggest we build our own EVs, including the batteries, and our government should encourage more inventors and researchers to look for alternative fuels yet to be discovered within our land. 

“EV is not yet practical enough because of the cost of batteries. Forget about clean air because for as long as there are jeepneys running in Metro Manila, the Clean Air Act seems to be on hold.”

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