| This document examines the environmental impacts associated with the aluminum-air battery electric vehicle fuel cycle. The aluminum-air battery concept is discussed and a scenario is developed which forecasts ten million aluminum-air electric vehicles in the United States by the year 2000. An estimation is made regarding the consumption of natural resources and generation of wastes due to the aluminum-air battery's fuel cycle and to the increased demand on the United States aluminum industry because of the scenario.;An analysis is also performed in which a comparison is made between the air emissions from an aluminum-air battery electric vehicle and those generated by a standard internal combustion engine vehicle.;Finally, an examination is made of various ways by which potential adverse environmental impacts may be eliminated or reduced.;The document concludes that no serious environmental impacts should be expected from the aluminum-air battery electric vehicle fuel cycle (provided a clean and inexpensive source of electricity is available) and that the introduction of such a vehicle could aid in reducing urban air pollution.;The battery's fuel cycle considers the entire process of its generation and use; this includes the extraction of the raw material, processing, transportation, distribution, implementation and recycling. Likewise, the aluminum industry considers not only aluminum production but also bauxite mining, alumina production and secondary aluminum processing (i.e., recycling). |
