DR Hamish Maclaren (Letters, January 4) is clearly an enthusiastic EV owner who revels in its low running costs but I can't help but question if he is fully aware that behind the slick advertising, the hype, the political machinations and the much-favoured claim of "zero tailpipe emissions" there is a very different narrative.

The entire manufacturing process of an EV emits 74% more CO2 than the latest highly-efficient internal combustion engines. The battery components, comprising lithium, cobalt, graphite, copper and aluminium will have travelled many thousands of fuel-consuming miles from Australia, South America and Africa on their way to China and thence back to Europe. While there is no denying that most manufacturing processes have negative environmental consequences, EV manufacture is no exception and there is also a large degree of human exploitation and suffering entailed in their procurement.

They will have left veritable mountains of what is often highly toxic waste material in their wake and consumed prodigious volumes of precious water. For example, in Australia it requires 500 tonnes of ore to produce just one tonne of lithium which, during this process alone, emits 15 tonnes of CO2.

I wonder how those EV owners who bask in the delusion that they are embracing a green future might react if they watched an interview with Senor Clemintiono Lopez? He is one of 20,000 indigenous lifetime residents of the Atacama Desert in Chile where much of the lithium is sourced, who are witnessing what they call their precious "water of our life" disappearing before their eyes. It has nothing to do with climate change but everything to do with the 500,000 gallons of water needed to produce just one tonne of lithium, which incidentally will be the volume required to make just 125 batteries. That's 4,000 gallons per battery and what will eventually happen to the millions of tonnes of potentially toxic spent batteries?

With lithium, known as white gold, currently valued at over $71,000 per tonne and overwhelmingly controlled by Chinese interests, there are many who will become extremely wealthy, heedless of the massive social, economic and environment damage that will have been wrought if the global "green dream" of a projected 672 million EVs is reached by 2050.

Neil J Bryce, Kelso.

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• DR Hamish McLaren clearly owns an EV that copes with his limited domestic requirements. Hence its reliability and his lack of range anxiety. His undemanding usage is what EVs are for, and where they will settle in the market. For serious use they have well-documented disadvantages such as range, reliability, and absence of charging points.

The good doctor has obviously overcome any fear of a battery fire, and is happy that the raw materials for that battery will probably have been mined by children.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.

Noisy roads are a nightmare

I HAD to laugh when I read Dr Hamish Maclaren's claim that his second-hand electric car has a "smooth and remarkably silent ride". What, on our roads?

I am not long back from a 180-mile round trip to see an old aunt in Ayrshire. The A68 is good, but the A702 and A70 are a disgrace. It's not just the potholes or the humps that are left when potholes are filled in, or the abraded verges, but it is the road roar that causes unpleasant noise in the car. While MacPherson struts are known for transmitting tyre noise, and the monocoque shells of modern cars act as a drum compared with the body-on-chassis of older designs, the highways engineers seem fixated on the coarsest topcoat they can find. When you drive in France you are delighted by the quietness of travel. Yet no political party has any plan for resurfacing the roads of Britain while road maintenance is a fraction of the billions bunged into the railways.

Incidentally, I have driven battery-powered cars - a Nissan Leaf, and an MG5 - and found the road noise in both unacceptable.

William Loneskie, Lauder.

Consider the pain of others

AESCHYLUS’S play The Persians from 472 BC is the oldest-known theatre tragedy. It is the story of the horrific slaughter of the Persians by the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis.

Amazingly it is recounted by Aeschylus through the eyes of the Persians, crying out their pain. By opting to describe the Greeks’ victory in this manner, Aeschylus chooses to protect the enemy from mockery and humiliation.

Centuries separate us from Greek culture but this play is an exercise in humanity. Giving consideration to the pain of others is a prerequisite for any future policy of peace.

Margaret Henderson, Glasgow.

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Reasons to be cheerful

WHILE last year seemed to be one of doom and gloom in the world, from ongoing war in Ukraine, conflict in Gaza and the cost-of-living crisis, there was in fact much to celebrate.

Medically, we are seeing a pace of progress that has not been witnessed for a century. Artificial intelligence and 3D printing provide amazing opportunities, and thanks in part to Covid-19 and the vaccines devised to tackle this, there also is the opportunity to help eradicate certain types of cancer.

The rise of renewables also became unstoppable, and according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), they will provide half the world’s electricity by 2030. The year also saw the Amazon rainforest breathe a little easier, with rates of deforestation down more than half compared to last year. This follows efforts to halt tree loss, most notably in Brazil.

The list of endangered species continued to grow in 2023, but some creatures bounced back from the brink. One of them was the scimitar-horned oryx, which until 2023 was listed as "extinct in the wild" but has been successfully reintroduced to Chad using captive animals. Other notable successes include Scotland’s surging golden eagle population and the return of the bittern to England.

There were also notable wins for the LGBTQ community as a clutch of countries broke down some of the barriers to same-sex partnerships. For example, Nepal registered its first gay marriage in November, becoming one of the first Asian nations to do so. Latvia, a laggard in relatively liberal Europe, also voted to legalise same-sex partnerships.

So, while for many of us last year may seem one to be despondent about, there were some notable positives to be celebrated.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh.

The Herald: 2023 saw the continuing rise of renewables2023 saw the continuing rise of renewables (Image: Getty)

Supersonic sailing

IN your "On this day" section (January 4) we read: "1493: Christopher Columbus sailed from America to Spain in the Nina."

He must have been going at a helluva lick.

Kenny Burnett, Aberdeen.