Electric vehicles are getting more advanced and more accessible all the time. As charging infrastructure proliferates and vehicle technology improves, they’re becoming more and more suitable replacements for your gas guzzler. To be sure–they aren’t perfect, but they will likely be an integral part of avoiding catastrophic climate change as the world’s middle class expands and more people than ever hit the road. An electric car is better for the environment than a traditional combustion engine, point blank . But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of room for improvement. EV batteries require significant quantities of rare earth metals and expensive minerals that are anything but renewable and would potentially grow scarce in the future thanks to the looming EV boom. And while there won’t be any carbon dioxide coming out of your electric car’s tailpipe, that certainly doesn’t mean that your car’s carbon footprint is zero. […]