Is Electric Car Boom Driving Up Pollution?

Allegations of air and water contamination by one of the largest mines for nickel, a key material for greener motoring

- Febriana Firdaus OBI ISLAND and Tom Levitt Photo s by Adlun Fiqri Pramadhani

They don’t want electric cars in Kawasi, just clean and safe water. The plywood build-ings and sporadic street lights in the village on the remote Obi Island in Indonesia couldn’t feel more distant from glitzy city showrooms acclaiming fossil fuel-free travel.

When we think of electric cars, raw materials like lithium and cobalt may immediately spring to mind – both have been the subject of investigations exposing alleged human rights abuse and environmental risks. Nickel, in contrast, has remained in the shadows. A largely unreported supply chain despite its emergence as a key material for the batteries powering the shift to electric cars.

Indonesia is home to the world’s largest nickel reserves, and Kawasi hosts one of the country’s largest mines. Yet what could be transformational for a country where the Covid pandemic pushed the number of people in poverty up to 10 % has been anything but, according to villagers.

On visiting the island, a Guardian investigation has found evidence suggesting elevated levels of lung infections among villagers and a local water source contaminated with unsafe levels of hexavalent chromium (Cr6), the cancer-causing chemical more widely known for its role in the Erin Brockovich story and film.

“In the past, before there was a company, even though we lived without electricity, we were safe. Now we are afraid. For our drinking water we have no choice. We are consuming the water under compulsion,” said Richard*.