JOYRIDE TO THE FUTURE — Electric vehicles drive us sooner to tomorrow

The International Energy Agency, a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization, projects that some 14 million electric vehicles will be sold around the world by the end of this year, a 35 percent jump from 2022 records.

What is interesting is that China accounts for more than half — at 58 percent — of all these new EVs that will be sold worldwide.

Chinese brands particularly BYD (Build Your Dreams) and SAIC-GM-Wuling lead the sales as the two have dedicated themselves to producing affordable EV models. Incidentally, these car manufacturers are now regarded as the world's largest EV producers and exporters.

China believes EV is the future of mobility and an effective solution to controlling its carbon dioxide emission levels, which is the highest in the world. To realize this, China started building hundreds of thousands of charging stations a few years back.

China's electric vehicle charging alliance recently reported that last year, 650,000 public chargers were built, bringing China's network of charging stations to a total of 1.8 million.

Aside from charging networks, China made sure buyers will choose EVs over other models so it established a program that reimbursed EV buyers and provided EV owners with tax breaks.

For the manufacturers, they were given subsidies enabling EV makers like BYD to become China's most successful manufacturer. Last year, EVs made up 20 percent of new cars sold in China, which dwarfs western Europe (15 percent) and the United States (5.3 percent), according to accounting and consulting firm, PwC.

At the same time, China also made buying and owning gasoline-powered cars less appealing and converted public transport and taxi fleets to be 100 percent electric. It even encouraged local agencies to procure electric or plug-in hybrids.

And yet, Japanese and other automakers are still cautious not to put automotive future into one basket.

Speaking with reporters in Thailand last year, Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda was quoted that the best way forward is to develop a host of different powertrain technologies including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen-powered, and battery-electric vehicles.

Toyoda's apprehension may be due to lithium, one of the key components in electric vehicle batteries.

According to the International Energy Agency, which works with countries around the world to shape energy policies for a secure and sustainable future, lithium — the soft, white metal also used in making laptops and mobile phones, planes, trains as well as bikes — could face supply shortage by 2025.

Moreover, mining lithium and processing them for EVs are concentrated in just a few countries with China owning basically 70-80 percent of the entire supply chain.

What's more concerning is that, according to a report by grassroots environmental federation Friends of the Earth International, lithium extraction inevitably harms the soil and causes air contamination.

As demand rises, the federation said that mining impacts are "increasingly affecting communities where this harmful extraction takes place, jeopardizing their access to water."

Lithium extraction requires a very high amount of water, which is already depleting vital water supplies in communities where extraction is happening. Approximately 2.2 million liters of water is needed to produce one ton of lithium.

No wonder that, in the same press conference, Toyoda explained that to achieve carbon neutrality people must remember that carbon is the real enemy, not a particular powertrain. "Battery EVs are not the only way to achieve the world's carbon neutrality goals."

"At Toyota, we believe in creating a full portfolio of carbon reducing choices for our customers from hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, battery electric cars, and fuel cell vehicles."