the downside of electric cars: Blood Colbalt

The genocide that nobody sees: The ongoing civil war in Central Africa/DRC, that has caused millions of deaths (2 million? 5 Million? who is counting?).

But why are they fighting? Partly tribalism of course, but it continues mainly as a civil war against a president who refused to leave...as Austin Bay points out: follow the money.

Attention Chinese car buyers and North Americans who exalt electric vehicles and condemn petrol-powered transport: Congo's election matters because Congo's extraordinary cobalt deposits and annual cobalt production have strategic international value and therefore long-term strategic implications that will eventually affect your lifestyles or threaten your lives.

Why? Manufacturing the electric engine powering China's small "urban" electric car takes 22 pounds of cobalt. That's why China imports at least 80 percent of Congo's annual output.