[RahulNagaraj]

According to a media report, Tesla's gigafactories have been releasing toxic pollutants over the permissible limits into the surrounding communities.

The investigation used public record requests to view emails between Tesla & regulators, interviewed former employees and even obtained documents including a letter sent by a whistleblower to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The investigation also found that corporate bosses were aware of the fact that the factory was polluting outside of regulations. Employees also expressed fear they would lose their jobs if they reported environmental issues.



Reports state how Tesla's factory in Freemont, California, has accumulated more warnings for violating air pollution laws in the last 5 years, than any other factory in California. The report even mentions how the Tesla factory is second only to the Chevron oil-gas refinery, in terms of releasing pollutants.

The investigation also mentions how the door to Tesla's giant casting furnace in its Texas plant, wouldn't shut. The open-door furnace used to melt metal to be moulded to make Model Y parts ended up spewing toxins into the air and raising temperatures on the factory floor to as high as 100 degrees. Also, reports state that hazardous wastewater from production flowed untreated into the city's sewers, in violation of the guidelines.

Source: WSJ

Link to Team-BHP news

[SmartCat]

Since the WSJ article is behind a paywall:
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/despite-m...140000156.html

Elon Musk has issued a polite clarification:

[JunkyardHunter]

Honestly don't know who to believe here. Electric car production is quite harmful to the environment (battery production and whatnot), but it is important to note that these are only rumors. Will wait and see how this turns out.

[Chetan_Rao]

Another one joins the ranks of the greatest hits of 'environmentally responsible' corporations: Enron, BP, Aramco, Shell,<insert your favorite environment polluter of choice here>.

I bet the aforementioned are all kicking themselves for ever agreeing to clean up their messes, instead of just screaming 'fake news!' and saving billions they could've paid their CXOs and shareholders instead

[SR5471]

We are merely changing the mode of pollution shifting to EV. It is true EV is less polluting than a fossil fuel vehicle. But the production especially that of battery can pollute. Hopefully newer battery tech and using renewable energy sources for charging will contribute to the goal of reduced or zero emission.

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by JunkyardHunter

Honestly don't know who to believe here. Electric car production is quite harmful to the environment (battery production and whatnot), but it is important to note that these are only rumors. Will wait and see how this turns out.

Seems like a Tesla problem than an EV problem. They aren't following regulations & preventive measures that are required by law (i.e preventive measures/filtration systems exist)

[NomadSK]

How morally correct it is, when he sells the carbon credits from his zero carbon emission business (read tesla) to legacy car makers and earns billions of dollars against it.

Isn’t Tesla also a part of problem and should be counted on same lines as polluting car makers. Since Tesla makes money for his shareholders from polluting legacy car makers. How does that make Tesla holier than thou and legacy car makers less mortals.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by NomadSK

How does that make Tesla holier than thou and legacy car makers less mortals.

That's the thing. Buy a personal transport/outdoor lifestyle vehicle from a giant corporation to meet your wants and needs. Capitalism and consumerism at play. Simple.

However, some people do the above with an EV powertrain, and want to believe that, they and the giant corporation are doing that to save the earth. I think that's where the issue is.

Don't get me wrong. The efficiency of an electric powertrain is so much better than an internal combustion engine. There are clearly benefits. I'm just stating that the benefits are hyped and the issues are not openly discussed.

In any case, we have to look at the actual facts of the WSJ report. Worst case the man-child might move all operations from regulated California to dig-baby-dig Texas or work-to-die-in-the-assembly-line China.

[Mr.Ogre]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

Seems like a Tesla problem than an EV problem. They aren't following regulations & preventive measures that are required by law (i.e preventive measures/filtration systems exist)

Just out of curiosity, if this is Tesla only problem, isn't it possible that the Chinese manufacturers are probably causing more harm to the environment if not less than Tesla? Of course they have mastered the engineering of making EV, but they are still very much capable of cutting corners and hiding them from the world.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ogre

Just out of curiosity, if this is Tesla only problem, isn't it possible that the Chinese manufacturers are probably causing more harm to the environment if not less than Tesla? Of course they have mastered the engineering of making EV, but they are still very much capable of cutting corners and hiding them from the world.

Thats what crossed my mind too.

If poster boy Tesla does this, then the Europeans (with dieselgate history) and most of all government backed Chinese would be doing so much more worse. Ofcourse, as long as tailgate emissions are nil, everything is fine in the present world.

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ogre

Just out of curiosity, if this is Tesla only problem, isn't it possible that the Chinese manufacturers are probably causing more harm to the environment if not less than Tesla? Of course they have mastered the engineering of making EV, but they are still very much capable of cutting corners and hiding them from the world.

Originally Posted by DicKy

Thats what crossed my mind too.

If poster boy Tesla does this, then the Europeans (with dieselgate history) and most of all government backed Chinese would be doing so much more worse. Ofcourse, as long as tailgate emissions are nil, everything is fine in the present world.

Chinese yes, Europeans almost certainly no. Dieselgate is generally an exception and even then, it was a very specific rule-breaking, not a trend. Europe is probably the most well-regulated on earth though some do fall through the cracks, nothing is perfect after all given there is a still a lot of ‘self-regulation’. I’d assume the Koreans probably fall in the category as Texas as well but better than China certainly.

[Pontiac]

Funny. Elon must be giggling with this report. I am surprised that there is still a big chunk of naïve people who believe EVs help the environment.

Emissions were just a propaganda from the EV manufacturers to turn a profit. People should just stop clubbing them both.

[extreme_torque]

I’m sorry, but this is exactly the kind of narrative legacy media headlines often push and it feels somewhat intentional. Suddenly, all and sundry are questioning whether EVs are as environmentally friendly as claimed, as if ICE cars magically appear out of thin air without massive manufacturing processes in huge factories.

As for the article in question, even if i were to take it to be the gospel truth, these are not ongoing issues but when the Model Y production was being scaled up in the year 2022 in a factory which is 10mn square foot in size for context.

And if it were such grave environmental violations, US's EPA would have fined the hell out of Tesla like they did with VW for emissions scandal and this would have been all over the news. WSJ would not have needed to cite emails between city officials and Tesla and some whistleblower, we would have known it already. You can't even make the Trump excuse since it was 2022 and the current dispensation is still around and by all means does not like Tesla or Elon Musk. It was apparent when Tesla was not even invited to the US government's EV summit and Joe Biden credited GM for "electrifying the entire auto industry" No kidding.
https://electrek.co/2021/11/18/presi...ndustry-wrong/

P.S. You can listen to the article more than you can read it

[Mystic]

The world is being run by lawyers in general and USA in particular. It is becoming difficult to understand who is at fault as each has his own agenda. I am neither for or against Tesla with wrt to this thread. When we look deeper into this behaviour by humans, my grand father said “There has been no qualitative change in man's thinking; we feel about our neighbours just as the frightened caveman felt towards his. The only thing that has changed is our ability to destroy our neighbour and his property”

To tell frankly, it is literally a war out there between EV and Oil lobbyists for automobiles. The developed countries are not coming to terms with the exponential development of developing countries and hence blaming them for the present state of affairs.

Pushing EV in a big way is more harmful than traditional ICE as the industries are equal in terms of pollution. There is no magic alternative to ICE wrt to pollution. We need energy and it is a necessary evil in terms of pollution.

100 years back when horse drawn carriages were replaced by ICE, people laughed that they are inefficient and not durable etc. If you look at it in those days, horse drawn carriages have built in ADAS system as horses are living and intelligent animals and would stop the vehicle automatically in emergencies without the driver ‘s intervention.

Now we are in a similar situation where we are still buying diesel SUV gas guzzlers in 2024 with few years of waiting list as EV is not able to replace ICE atleast in the minds of the majority. The lobbyists are taking advantage of of this situation and blaming each other for their selfish agenda.

As for me, I will jump the boat from ICE to EV ( deciding the winner) only if a race between ICE and EV is done at Le Mans for 24 hours driving continuously and whoever has the maximum miles covered will be the winner. ( one can have as many drivers and pit stops for refuel and recharge). Until then, I keep my opinion reserved.