Pieces — EV FAQ
EV FAQ
How does the risk of a battery fire in a crash compare with a petrol car?
The image of EVs catching fire in crashes is contradicted plainly by national fire statistics. Per 100,000 vehicles, EVs record about 25 fires against roughly 1,500 for petrol cars — about one-sixtieth the rate. Swedish and Australian data agree that EVs are tens of times less likely to burn. This piece explains why EVs are structurally less prone to fire, what remains genuinely hard about putting one out, and how LFP cells are lowering the risk further.
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EV FAQ
What about the environmental damage and human rights abuses behind mining lithium and cobalt?
Mining the lithium and cobalt that go into EVs carries real environmental damage and real human rights problems, child labour among them. This piece faces that record honestly, then sets out three routes towards a solution — cobalt-free batteries, responsible sourcing, and recycling — alongside a fair comparison with fossil fuel extraction.
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EV FAQ
What happens to used EV batteries? Can the waste and recycling problem be solved?
The used batteries piling up as EVs spread are becoming a circulating resource rather than waste. Second-life use and recycling recover around 90% of the lithium, cobalt and nickel, and the EU Battery Regulation is pushing circulation into law. This piece sets out where battery recycling stands — the technology, the economics and the rules.
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EV FAQ
How long does an EV battery last? Won't it be worn out in a few years?
“How many years does an EV battery last? Won't it fade in a few years, the way a phone does?” — battery life is one of the biggest worries for anyone weighing up an EV. Real-world data from tens of thousands of cars tells a very different story. This piece looks at why a phone battery and an EV battery are different animals, what measured degradation actually looks like, what the warranties cover, what replacement and resale mean in practice, and the second life a battery has after the car is done with it.
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EV FAQ
Don't EVs carry a bigger footprint than petrol cars, once battery manufacturing is counted?
“Making the battery emits so much CO₂ that an EV is worse for the climate than a petrol car.” Is that true? Manufacturing an EV does emit about 40% more — but the gap is repaid after roughly 17,000 km, one to two years of driving, and over the whole life cycle an EV cuts emissions by more than 73%. This piece works through the comparison using the ICCT's 2025 analysis, including what Japan's power mix means for the answer.
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EV FAQ
Doesn't charging take too long compared with filling up with petrol?
Is charging time really the inconvenience it is made out to be? Charging takes tens of minutes against three at a pump, but day to day an EV charges at home and the waiting is close to zero. What matters is fast charging on long trips — and there, 2025 brought ultra-fast chargers that restore around 400 km of range in ten minutes. This piece looks at where the inconvenience is real, and at how to drive so that you wait less.
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EV FAQ
Aren't EVs impractical where the charging network is thin?
“There's no charger near me, so an EV won't work where I live.” Worry about charging infrastructure is the most common reason people hesitate. But how usable an EV is does not come down to the number of public chargers: most charging happens at home or at work, and public fast chargers are for topping up on long trips. This piece looks at where Japan's network stands (about 68,000 points at the end of FY2024, against a target of 300,000 by 2030), at what home-centred charging actually looks like, and at the gaps that remain for flat-dwellers and thinly populated areas.
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EV FAQ
Isn't an EV too expensive to buy? Can the price difference ever be paid back?
“The sticker price is too high — a petrol car must work out cheaper in the end.” The answer changes completely depending on whether you look at the purchase price alone or at the total cost of ownership. Running an EV costs about half as much in fuel, maintenance runs ¥80,000–110,000 a year cheaper, and in Japan a purchase subsidy of up to ¥1.3 million is available. This piece compares an EV and a petrol car from the showroom to year ten: how long the price gap takes to recover, and the patterns of use where it does not.
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