BBC 1 - Panorama: The Electric Car Revolution – Winners and Losers. Wednesday at 19:30

[Regulo]

Moderation comment - thread merged from "Panorama Wednesday - How ethical is Tesla's supply chain?"

Just a heads up re this programme tomorrow 7:30 p.m. BBC1 Panorama. "How ethical is Tesla's supply chain?" Should throw up a few topics for further discussion!!!!!

 

[Limey]

Could be interesting.

 

[Katic1972]

Here we go more tessiebashing incoming no doubt.

 

[Smileysam]

The tabloids love bashing Teslas

 

[Jason71]

Just a heads up re this programme tomorrow 7:30 p.m. BBC1 Panorama. "How ethical is Tesla's supply chain?" Should throw up a few topics for further discussion!!!!!

it's going to be primarily about Cobalt I suspect. Not aware Tesla are any worse than anyone else on that but if you are the market leader I guess you get the most attention.

 

[SR-Plus]

LFP batteries don’t use colbalt (or so I’m told)

 

[MP3Mike]

So is it just going to be a TV episode on the impact report that Tesla released a few months ago?

2020 Impact Report | Tesla

See how Tesla is accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy with highlights from our 2020 Impact Report.

www.tesla.com

https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2020-tesla-impact-report.pdf

 

[Limey]

It's ethical metals supply.

LFP owners owners, you can relax a little.

 

[scdoubleu]

As I understand it, Tesla doesn't advertise, whereas other car brands do. This makes them fair game for journalists' FUD because there's no incentive to sook up to them. Even the Beeb is guilty of this - their international service carries ads.

Bet you won't see any articles critical of the big ad spenders like Ford or GM...

 

[Jason71]

As I understand it, Tesla doesn't advertise, whereas other car brands do. This makes them fair game for journalists' FUD because there's no incentive to sook up to them. Even the Beeb is guilty of this - their international service carries ads.

Bet you won't see any articles critical of the big ad spenders like Ford or GM...

the whole DRC / Cobalt thing is a real issue so lets see what they have to say maybe it will be totally fair an balanced..........

 

[Limey]

Outside China, they sell the most EVs and sell by weight some large amount of rare metals. If they are a large purchaser of cobolt from the DRC they are fair game, they should be scrutinised and challenged on this.

 

[scdoubleu]

the whole DRC / Cobalt thing is a real issue so lets see what they have to say maybe it will be totally fair an balanced..........

Absolutely, that is definitely a thing which needs to be addressed. However, if the journos had any credibility the show's title should be "How ethical are EV supply chains". Putting Tesla in there is disingenuous click bait.

 

[Simonix]

BBC will biased, as usual.......

BBC earns £300,000 from Saudi oil firm despite net-zero pledge

Fossil fuel advertising on overseas output jars with DG’s call to ‘dial up the focus on sustainability’

www.theguardian.com

 

[phil4]

It's one of those things... putting the word Tesla in your headline/article drives up reader/viewer numbers massively. It's why everyone and their uncle goes out of there way to mention them, even if it's not really relevant.

Clearly this is a little more, but you can bet they chose to use Tesla rather than just EV batteries because it'll drive views.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

BBC will biased, as usual.......

BBC earns £300,000 from Saudi oil firm despite net-zero pledge

Fossil fuel advertising on overseas output jars with DG’s call to ‘dial up the focus on sustainability’

www.theguardian.com

I doubt it would make a scrap of difference - it implies the BBC is well organised and its only 2 months wages for Gary Linkeker.

Amnesty international have tried to get proper commitments with mixed success although the details I can find on a quick search are getting old. At least Tesla were ranked as taking "moderate action" back in 2017 which only Apple and Samsung were better at. Whether they've been able to continue that given the increase in production volume and the LG batteries since is hard to tell as they refused to reply in 2018
Some links *I said they were getting old

Industry giants fail to tackle child labour allegations in cobalt battery supply chains

Are smartphone and electric vehicle companies doing enough to cut human rights abuses out of their cobalt supply chains?

www.amnesty.org

‘Consumers have the right to demand that products marketed as the ethical choice really stand up to scrutiny’

‘Consumers have the right to demand that products marketed as the ethical choice really stand up to scrutiny’

www.amnesty.org.uk

Electric car companies still powering human rights abuses

Major car companies are not doing enough to ensure the supply chains for their electric vehicles are free from abuse.

www.amnesty.org

 

[davidmc]

Moderation comment - thread merged with existing thread from "BBC 1 - Panorama: The Electric Car Revolution – Winners and Losers. Tonight at 19:30"

What they say:

"Elon Musk’s Tesla is a trillion-dollar car company that’s valued at more than all the other major car makers put together. Just about digested that? It’s time to investigate any dark truths behind the electric car revolution with reporter Darragh MacIntyre, who wants to know where Tesla gets the rare metal for its car batteries and how ethical its supply chain is. He meets the African nuns who say Musk needs to do more to protect some of the poorest people on the planet."

I'll let you lot comment below regards what we may expect and also what we see later.

 

[M3noob]

BBC and ethical in the same post? Surely, you jest. Just don't watch - save your elevated blood pressure for a good cause.

 

[tomorrowman]

I'm sure they will mention that all efforts are being made to remove cobalt from the batteries (LFP's in standard range 3 & Y have none) and they will mention the fact that refinining crude uses cobalt for the desulphurisation process.

Interestingly the high cobalt content batteries tend to get used in mobile phones, laptop's etc, manufacturers of which seem less inclined to reduce cobalt content - probably because the spotlight is not on them (as the clickbait title of the BBC aptly demonstrates).

Sigh suppose we had better continue using fossil fuel then, time to sell the model 3 and get me a nice v8 something.

 

[Andy_T_73]

I can predict how this is going to pan out.......Cobalt > child labour > terrible EVs > rage > buy an ICE, it's better for the environment.

Of course no mention whatsoever that the oil industry needs cobalt to turn oil to petrol - as well as huge amounts of energy.

 

[HenryT]

The good news is Tesla have no responsibility because the electric car revolution was started and lead by General Motors and Ford. Tesla are latecomers and just follow the market leaders.

(All credit to Joe Biden for the above insights).