We all know that we need to move away from the internal combustion engine (ICE). However, it does not appear a best solution has arrived.

"there’s a good argument to be made that the government, and automakers, are leaning too hard into all-electric and neglecting the virtues of hybrid technology. "

"Imagine some wheelbarrows filled with rocks. The rocks contain lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, graphite and other materials for lithium-ion batteries. By Toyota’s calculation, the amount of rocks needed for one long-range electric vehicle would be enough for either six plug-in hybrids or 90 of the type of hybrid that can’t be plugged in for a recharge. (Namely, the type whose batteries are recharged from the engine or from braking.)

“The overall carbon reduction of those 90 hybrids over their lifetimes is 37 times as much as a single battery electric vehicle,” Toyota argues. That’s a stunning statistic if true."

Other agree with Toyota's data.

"The production of electric vehicles produces more greenhouse gases than the production of cars with combustion engines. So E.V.s have to travel between 28,000 and 68,000 miles before they have an emissions advantage over similarly sized and equipped ICE-mobiles, according to Nunes. That may take 10 years or more if the E.V. isn’t driven much."

EVs "accounted for just 5.8 percent of new cars sold in the United States last year."

With Hybrids “having a gasoline backup helps alleviate range anxiety, allowing them to adopt plug-in hybrids even when the charging network around them is sparse. Moreover, given their lower price, middle- and low-income communities would also find adopting them easier than battery electric vehicles.”

There is a shortage of lithium necessary to create batteries for EVs and Hybrids. "Global lithium output is on track to triple this decade, but sales of electric SUVs, sports cars and sedans that rose 55% last year threaten to outrun that. Each battery requires about eight kilograms (17 pounds) of lithium, plus cobalt, nickel and other metals."

Manufacturers and governments are fighting over lithium mines and output. A Canadaian developer is trying to open a mine in Nevada which will be the biggest U.S. source. However, conservationists and American Indians are "asking a federal court to block development of the Nevada mine"... "Opponents say it might poison water supplies and soil and pollute nesting grounds for birds. “Securing metals must not come at a sacrifice to the environment,” said a U.S. group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a report last year."

Just recently Jefferson County, TN, leaders voted against a lithium battery storage facility because of the dangers involved and the lack of infrastructure to protect the community.