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Who is going to come up with a viable alternative to vehicle tyres and brake pads, which are increasingly cited as major pollutants in road and highway run-off?
iron phosphate, or lithium manganese oxide for the cathode, and graphite for the anode. Other materials used in the construction of lithium-ion batteries include aluminium laminate film, prismatic cans, cases, and lids. In addition to these materials, there are five minerals that are considered critical for lithium-ion batteries: cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese and nickel. These minerals are used in the production of the cathode and anode materials in lithium-ion batteries.’
Some of the above-mentioned materials are difficult or expensive to extract and how many will be needed to power a future global fleet of electric vehicles?
Old versus new
On a personal note, the author runs a 31- year-old car that she has driven from new; it is petrol with a catalytic converter (it came with it in 1992, the year cats were optional). It does around 35 mpg and has been pretty reliable; is she a bad person for continuing to run it? She thinks 31 years of continuous use for all (or mostly all) its constituent parts is surely quite green. But so many people today just throw things away if they break down – from phones to printers to laptops to microwaves. Where are we actually going as a society? There are companies doing great things recycling our waste – like playground surfaces made from crushed tyres, or footpaths and sunglasses and even clothing from waste plastic – but it isn’t yet enough and we are far from being a circular economy. Who is going to come up with a viable
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alternative to vehicle tyres and brake pads, which are increasingly cited as major pollutants in road and highway run-off?
Vehicle options
Paul Jackson is a director at Capital Fleet Solutions and certainly ‘at the coal face’ in terms of vehicle emissions regulations and choices. He commented:
“We have definitely seen a move, both from our clients and ourselves, to be greener across supply and operation. For us, we’re always encouraging customers to purchase new vans as opposed to keeping hold of current vans. Whilst that may seem less efficient due to manufacturing costs, in the longer term
newer models manage emissions much better and do more miles to the gallon. Not only does this help with a wider sustainability drive, but also helps customers use less fuel and save money.”
In terms of future developments, Paul continued: “There is an obvious drive towards electric vehicles, but at the moment we’re finding that the range is too low for a fully laden jetting van. In the longer term, as battery technology evolves, we will see a real move to this, but the infrastructure will also need to be improved to cope with the increased number of electric vehicles on the road. We’ll probably continue as we are - keeping abreast of current news in the sector and what the manufacturers are
Capital Fleet Solutions: Newer vans manage emissions much better, and do more miles to the gallon.
| October 2023 |
www.draintraderltd.com
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