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California and the Northeast states have passed laws requiring that 2% of model year 1998 cars must be "zero emissions" vehicles --that is, electric cars (1). Required sales of electric cars are to increase after 1998. Electric vehicle technology has the advantage that it produces no air pollution at the point of use, so that if the electricity is generated in a distant place, electric cars are a means of switching the location of environmental discharges. A large crowded city such as Los Angeles or New York has large amounts of discharges, even if care is taken to protect the environment, because the millions of gasoline-powered vehicles in such cities emit large quantities of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. Electric vehicle technology can move emissions to less crowded and less polluted locations. Centralized electric generation plants may also be able to achieve fewer emissions per vehicle mile than do internal combustion engines in vehicles (2).
The environmental effects of internal combustion engines are well known. Pollution controls have lowered emissions from a controlled car by 98% as compared with those from an uncontrolled car. For electric vehicles, generating electricity for recharging batteries can cause considerable environmental harm (3). Analyses have been done on the environmental effects of gasoline as compared with those of electricity generation (2). In response to the electric vehicle mandate, automakers have proposed ultralow emissions vehicles.
We focus on the environmental consequences of producing and reprocessing large quantities of batteries to power electric cars. For vehicles that are to be mass produced in late 1997, lead-acid batteries are likely to be the only practical technology. Smelting and recycling the lead for these batteries will result in substantial releases of lead to the environment. Lead is a neurotoxin, causing reduced cognitive function and behavioral problems, even at low levels in the blood (4). Environmental discharges of lead are a major concern. For example, eliminating tetraethyl lead (TEL) from U.S. gasoline greatly reduced blood-lead levels in children (5).
Alternative battery technologies that are currently available include nickel-cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries, which are much more expensive than lead-acid batteries. In addition, nickel and cadmium are highly toxic to humans and the environment. Technologies such as sodium-sulfur and lithium-polymer batteries are...