Batteries vs. Crude Oil

By excel on April 17, 2012 10:30 pm

In our ever growing demand for Crude Oil and with the planet’s ageing resources, one of the daring moves the automotive industry made was to accept new technologies that will reduce the use of Crude Oil and perhaps in the future eliminate our dependency in it.

So let’s try to compare Batteries and Crude Oil.

It is said that when Batteries started production, the environmental friendly aspects are affected. This is the same as with Crude Oil when these elements are extracted from the earth. Production of Batteries includes mining of rare earth materials that may harm our environment. These elements are lithium, neodymium, nickel and others. On the other hand, exploration of crude oil may include water pollution and oil spills that also harm our surroundings.

Therefore, we can say that manufacturing of both Batteries and Crude Oil has a great negative impact on our planet. So which of them has a positive characteristic? In which this difference could lead us into using this technology in the future.

Perhaps the most important characteristic is the ability to RECYCLE. And this is definitely applicable to Batteries. Yes. Batteries can be recycled and used again many times. Crude Oil on the other hand, besides the fact that it will run out in the future could not be used anymore or recycled once burnt out. It also produces harmful gasses such as CO2 when being used unlike Batteries which do not emit such elements that damage the surroundings.

So the next time you shop around and eyeing for your next car, you may want to have a look at the specifications of Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Nissan Leaf and other Hybrid cars in the automotive market today.

Reference, Image Source: Wikipedia, Google Images