Top 10 Reasons NOT to Subsidize Electric Car Industry

Recently Canada’s Liberal government announced $13 billion in support to attract Volkswagen to establish an electric car battery production facility halfway between Toronto and Detroit. The German auto manufacturer will set up its factory on “1,500 acres of prime agricultural land” in St. Thomas, Ontario. The government claims its motivation is ecological. The St. Thomas factory will be plugged into an energy grid dominated by nuclear power as well as a significant amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitting natural gas.  Most personal vehicles are 2,000 to 6,000 pounds of various minerals, parts and electronics that are often shipped halfway across the world in massive fossil fuel powered vessels. One of the major elements in car batteries, cobalt, wreaks human and environmental devastation where it is mined in Congo. The private car underpins a land, energy and resource intensive big box retail/suburban economy that has devoured incredible amounts of farms, wilderness and woodlands.  The federal government’s massive subsidy to Volkswagen highlights Canada’s commitment to a model of profit accumulation structured around individuals driving 3,000-pound metal boxes.  It’s a long past time to shift away from the private car and resource intensive sprawl towards walkable, bikeable and transit-oriented living spaces.