The electrification of transport in 50 shades of falsehood

He shares things on social networks… They are not all true, and some die hard. And it is largely to counter this negative influence on the electric shift in transportation in Canada that Daniel Breton has just published the book 50 myths and half-truths about electric vehicles.

Which of these statements is false?

• Gasoline vehicles catch fire more often than electric vehicles, all things considered.

• Most rare metals used by the automobile industry are used in gasoline-powered vehicles.

• Gasoline vehicles will soon be cleaner than electric vehicles.

The first statement is true. Based on official statistics from the end of 2023, and taking into account the number of vehicles on our roads, a gasoline vehicle is 20 times more likely to catch fire than an electric vehicle.

The second statement is true, but incomplete. Gasoline vehicle exhaust catalysts use several rare metals, including platinum, rhodium and palladium. Oil companies also use lanthanum and cerium in their refining processes to produce gasoline that is sold at the pump. Rare metals are also found in electric motors. In fact, rare metals are found in just about every modern electronic device, including phones and computers.

The third statement is false. It was launched by the promoters of a synthetic fuel which would be produced from carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere, which would then be liquefied and combined with hydrogen itself produced by electrolysis of water to produce gasoline. This would, in theory, result in a carbon-neutral fuel, since it would only return CO into the air.₂ which was taken away from him.

That doesn't make a gasoline engine a zero-emission engine, however…

50 shades of fake

In 50 myths and half-truths about electric vehiclesauthor Daniel Breton, also former provincial minister of the Environment, Wildlife and Parks in the PQ government of Pauline Marois, repeats this exercise 47 more times.

“It’s staggering, the increase in misinformation and falsehoods that we’ve seen circulating about electric vehicles over the past year or two,” said during a telephone conversation with The Press the one who is also president and CEO of the sector organization Electric Mobility Canada.

It is in this role of representative of the Canadian electric transportation industry that Daniel Breton tries to convince almost everyone, from federal and provincial elected officials to automobile manufacturers including Canadian motorists themselves, to the importance of decarbonizing the automotive sector in the near future. This is where he also very regularly comes up against counter-arguments that are not always concrete…

Daniel Breton has had a penchant for electric transportation for much longer than the last two years. He owned a first-generation Honda Insight, a particularly frugal small hybrid car that existed between 1999 and 2006. Even then, he was trying to break down resistance against electrification. It must be said that the high purchase price of new vehicles and the obligation to electrify for anyone who wants to buy a new vehicle from 2035 creates a lot of anxiety.

Things got tougher during the pandemic and confinement at the beginning of the decade. The energy transition has sharply polarized the population. The subject has become more partisan than ever. In our current “post-truth” world, this has opened the door to many new assertions, not all of which make sense.

In his book, Daniel Breton deconstructs those which seem to him to be the most questionable. It also identifies sources potentially emitting this disinformation. And he systematically cites his sources: his bibliography alone is 20 pages long!

The author agrees: to achieve their climate targets, Quebec and Canada will have to make more room for active and collective transportation. All transport will have to be decarbonized – rail, air and maritime. And no doubt we will have to opt for others besides electrification.

But to make the right choices, you need the right information. In this sense, 50 myths and half-truths about electric vehicles brings us a little closer to the target.