Germany where reign supreme there are 47000000 cars on its roads in a cities a choking on dangerously high levels of particulate matter nitrogen oxide and enormous c o 2 emissions the government has built to proposals for driving bans in speed limits now its decided electric cars will fix the problem. We need to rid transportation of it c o 2 footprint and electro mobility is a key part of that and as we have to go time going green on germanys roads electric my ability is promoted as the ticket to a clean future and one of the Fastest Growing sectors in the global markets. Seem to be some yeah thats france and germany and the e. U. Came to supply 30 percent of global battery demand by 2030. 2 in. Germany. Carmakers also have ambitions plans. As bishops in the same yard by 20251 in 5 models and the b. M. W. Group will be electric but our electric cars are really the solution. You know where you work up and then you can talk about clean energy for countries like germany if youre destroying peoples livelihoods elsewhere. How clean is electric my billet really. In his electric car roll insurance on his way to his bakery in the town of hilton in more drive is failing out every saturday a group of electric current meets the breakfast. U. S. Manufacturer tesla is still all the rage. To slot the space for test was a bit like a religion for me its like the sunshine its a real solution that offers a way out of the dilemma is on top certainly also the model that not. All of the electric car owners here are convinced that theyre helping the environment. Until it was told its great not to pollute we have solar panels at home and our utility supplies energy from renewable so yeah my conscience is green on by large drive an electric car because environmentally friendly america normal and that was key. There most by rolling sure and also drives an electric car to help protect the environment he feels up his electric car outside the bakery and his own charging station. For the selectric mobility is immensely important for saving the environment because at the moment theres no cheaper more environmentally friendly c o 2 friendly mode of private transport. The Breakfast Club drive as electric cars are the only way to marry personal car ownership with Environmental Protection is a good intervention of the people buying new cars should stop using Combustion Engines and refuse to be talked into buying a new diesel because it will soon be banned anyway. By electric now with our government should promote electric cars and develop Renewable Energy sources in parallel. And again then the problem would be solved. I just removed. Because compared to gasoline and diesel the electric car has one advantage its engine does not need any exhaust feeling electric cars powered by an electric motor the energy for this comes from a battery built into the car floor the battery is the central and largest element of an electric car depending on the model it weighs several 100 kilos very small materials and need it for the battery the most important of these is lithium so where does it come from. We set off for south america to argentina and the province of. More than 60 percent of the worlds lithium reserves located here in the endian highlands in the socalled lithium triangle that straddles argentina bolivia and chile. Its an inhospitable extremely dry region with sparse vegetation that only sees rain once a year river lets trickle for just a few kilometers before running dry water is a precious commodity the indigenous squalor have lived in the region for centuries today their people number more than 100000 carlo schools man animals that his farm up here in the mountains. Equality were brought to the gaelic well i represent the aperture to collective and we have opposed lithium mining because theres very little water here. Amounts of water are withdrawn from mining it compounds the arid conditions. Were all very concerned about the threat posed to our natural environment. And both if. We are a month looked up. Near guzmans farm the salt lake salata on overalls lots of now to choose a 4000 meters above sea level. Beneath its salt surface crust is a deep basin of brine it contains high concentrations of the cover to deposit lithium. Workers from the Mining Company salles to holy pump the brine to the surface this was the 1st major lithium mine here a 2nd company excise expanding another plant and test rolling is underway at other salt lakes in the region. Lithium is just booming right now we extract it from deep below the salt lake this well as 450 meters deep its currently pumping 55 liters per 2nd we plan to install 30 such wells in the coming months. The company pumps the brine into huge basins workers are constructing a new basin several 100 meters long and wide immense quantities of brine of removed for the production of lithium every year 10000000000 liters of processed this salt lake alone to extract lithium the brine is left to evaporate under the hot sun. After 6 months lithium makes up 6 percent of the concentrated brine. Its fed into the plant which processes it for industrial use. He was we had chemicals to separate the other minerals in the brine so that in the end all that remains is the highly concentrated lithium we think of as a somewhat up more doesnt it indeed. Its a protracted procedure. But its become highly lucrative fueled by the demand for batteries to Power Electric cars exploratory systems are being installed across the salt flats of chile bolivia and argentina not least because of the price for lithium has seen a 7 fold increase in recent years investors call it White Petroleum or white gold theres a thought that one of the ability of this is the Lithium Carbonate of our end product. Its a powder what it worth. Her. One time costs around 14000. 00. Whats a kilo worth i cant convert that ill apply. A white gold rush. With the devastating impact on the unique salt flats of the andes at an existential threat to dwindle in Water Resources in this era great. For their production Mining Companies need millions of latest of precious fresh water in addition pumping brine from the depths of salt lakes pushes scarce groundwater from the edges into the middle of the lakes where it mixes with the salt water and is rented unusable. Water that accumulated over tens of thousands of years and keeps the ecosystem in balance is wasted within the space of a few years. But that water is vital for the people who live around the salt lakes they depend on it to cultivate the barren soil and break llamas and goats every later counts now entire reserves are drying up in the near future farming will no longer be possible near the lithium pools and its not only water scarcity thats a problem some of the chemicals used during the lithium extraction process turn into toxic dust thats transported by. The wind. On the field we suffer from air pollution. A lot of things are carried on the wind like lime caustic soda and pot ash. One of the 3 chemicals together are more aggressive than one alone. That impacts agriculture on the few have plants that grow here but also the animals. Weve seen llamas go blind because of the dust in some places. But it. Farmers from other villages have also chronicled the effects of toxic dust on the eyes of the animals whose wool and meat a key to the livelihoods of the indigenous people. The color settled in this area even before the incas but now lithium is threatening their way of life. Our culture has a Spiritual Connection with the salt lake and you know what since time immemorial we have appreciated the richness of nature the many birds and also our llamas graze there and thats why we say no to lithium mining. Mining across the region cannot be stopped who needs all. This man is part of the answer. Must take billionaire and electric car pioneer. There are with his Company Tesla the law must show the world that electric mobility could be sexy in 2016 he introduced model 3 the 1st electric car for the mass market in terms of production the thing thats going to be a major challenge for us over the next 6. 00 to 9. 00. Yes. Heres deborah part. Of the key ingredient construction on Teslas Gigafactory one in the nevada desert near reno has been underway since 2014 we wanted to visit the factory ourselves but were not given permission to film. The plant 35 get done. More likely my batteries than the rest of production. But tesla isnt just building batteries in nevada its also got plants in new york and china with a 4th in the pipeline for europe. And the demand for batteries to Power Electric cars is not only growing at tesla and the Paris Motor Show in 2018 german car Makers Showcase their latest top of the ranks models like diamonds e. Q. See. Audi premier its brand new. And b. M. W. And failed its concept car the i x 325 models planned in the next few years according to Management Board member class for group this class for us its clear that by 2025 our entire portfolio ranging from the b. M. W. One series to the 7 series or the x 5 will be fully electric does us fall apart for you. When it comes to shifting to electric cars german manufacturers have put the pedal to the metal. d apart from b. M. W. Folks are going for cs 80 new electric models by 2025 porsche wants half of its fleet to be electric by then and diana is investing 10000000000 euros in the development of electric vehicles all telling the governments line for germanys Automotive Industry feel there must not and many of the governments measures have gained traction and i expect we will see a huge increase in the next few years and thats already evident from the plans the manufacturers have announced. To stimulate demand the government is offering incentives like a purchase rent tax breaks d free parking and funding for research and development all part of a strategy set out a decade ago in the National ElectroMobility Development plan it was drafted by a panel of experts from the fields of politics industry science and environmental groups penning cardamon heads the National Platform future of mobility and has direct access to the chancellor his brief is to get as many electric cars onto german roads as possible to achieve germanys climate goals for the transport sector by 2030. Soon bus most of course we have to see whats feasible you initially the government set a target of 6000000. 00 cars currently the model puts the figure in the range of 6. 00 to 7. 00 and a half 1000000 by the by the but theyre also demands that goes high is 10000000 well have to see how many cars the manufacturers can produce the book. But those cars will need customers carmakers have identified range as the Sticking Point dima says its q. C. Will cover 450 kilometers. Out easy tron 417 kilometers b. M. W. s i extremely well have a range of 400 kilometers. And b. M. W. I next unveiled in december trumps them all with a purported range of 650 kilometers what is striking is that all these models are s. U. V. S because you can only travel far and electric cars with large and heavy batteries and they need a lot of space in large bodies. Of us im sure frequent its a step towards customer acceptance in which were trying to explain to customers that electra mobility is actually nothing revolutionary so its not its just another way to drive a vehicle so now youre accustomed to. Driving a certain range with your internal Combustion Engine vehicle its logical to expect the same range from an electric car into bottom but. B. M. W. Sees its future here in the the very end countryside the group has established its electron mobility Competent Center in tingle thing its i nexus it to roll of the Assembly Line here in 2 years time will cohost my heads the plant. Those here on some of the office here its a dingle thing site the i next is a real opportunity its the 1st fully electric model will produce to that end the plant is currently being expanded to encompass 80000 square meters. To b. M. W. The mobility is the number one growth market. As bishops in the same year we estimate that by 22051. 00 in 5 b. M. W. Models will be electric that means electric power trains will account for 20 percent sales across the group. On the road to an electrically powered chicha. Big enough for now we expect worldwide demand for battery cells to increase more than 10 fold in the next 11 years. I demand fueling the need for lithium. Back in the andean highlands of argentina. We are in britain khana d. S. Here on the edge of the salt lake the disastrous effects of lithium mining are already apparent. The village is one of 33. 00 communities in the region that have joined forces to fight the corporations. And an imbecilic economy media when i started mining lithium here the water in the village became increasingly scarce young man them. And yeah man how there used to be enough water to irrigate our gardens but to do. No there isnt enough. But Mining Companies have only just begun to drill here the locals are not prepared to sit back and accept the destruction of their Ancestral Lands the arid region has been their home for centuries. Weve begun building up Rural Tourism here in this community and also in neighboring villages around the lagoon and when alone. If they start drilling it will jeopardize everything weve achieved. Because theyll leave their toxic waste behind here with us. When i get out and thats one. Protest action by the villagers has made waves across the country. Theyve set up roadblocks and staged demonstrations at home and taken their case to court in the capital point to say arrests as a result some applications for drilling have been temporarily denied. But the government continues to carve the land up among the multinationals violating their human and civil rights. The leader of the resistance Clemente Flores is himself a llama breeder and pharma. Hes also had 1st hand experience of the threat of lithium mining poses. The water he needs to sustain his small farm is getting scarcer and scarcer. Well billboard this well is 12 meters deep down there the water used to be about one and a half meters deep in august we took a new measurement there were only 50 centimeters the water table has dropped drastically. There is a miracle of nature here freshwater springs in the middle of a white salt crossed the springs form small lakes in this hostile desert environment but this unique ecosystem is under threat experts from the german n. G. O. Prayed for the world have studied the impact of lithium mining. Tonally a tonne of lithium requires burning off 2000000 liters of water the problem is this is such an extremely arid region that in the long run will be pumped dry. For the back of a single electric car up to 80000 liters of precious water disappear from here forever. And its not just the land of farmers and their animals thats under threat. Of an argentinian and when we were in argentina we also travelled to the quieter oakleigh goun and we saw this incredible sight i mean hundreds of flamingoes the whole lagoon is full of flamingoes its get us a logan is as good as sold to Mining Companies so in the next few years itll be covered with concrete pools and its very clear the farming goes will disappear on his guns bad as the flamingo especially. The government recently auctioned off mining concessions for the extraction of lithium in the massive salt flats salinas glanders the indigenous population feels transported back to the time when colonial powers robbed the land beneath their feet today its their own government thats in the past they have no formal land rights its land that they have cultivated for centuries. But it belongs to the government and whoever owns the land controls the water. And the group was in its a matter of life and death if they pump so much water out of here in such a short space of time and we know what a huge amount it is then in the next 5 or 6 years we will lose so much water that the land here will turn into a real desert. That it wont just be impossible to farm or herd animals we wont be able to live here at all. In the near future lithium mining could spell the end of a centuries old culture and a unique ecosystem scientists like harold lish are alarmed. Hold on to we used to get oil from somewhere and accepted in inverted commas the environmental damage there we didnt care i doubt lithiums if you ask industry where do the Raw Materials actually come from it answers oh theyre just delivered its just business as usual this is basically we dont want to hear anything at all about the environmental damage were causing with our transport modes in europe or north america and many other countries are being bussed a visual version that unleashed. Germanys economy is the worlds 5th Largest Consumer of Metal Resources its Automotive Industry acquires them so a network of supply as its virtually impossible to control the side has it would have its a very good question whether the sources are sustainable and above all whether the mining methods are in line with roughly german standards the industry will have to make sure that it imposes appropriate requirements and ensures transparency in the countries where its source is the Raw Materials it has in fact made that commitment says hell finish that. How do german carmakers ensure their suppliers are maintaining Environmental Standards audi and said. d since we do not do business directly with raw material producers we have integrated sustainability requirements into our contracts with direct suppliers we take all indications of infringements very seriously and investigate them directly and consistently. Dima responded to control supply chains maceda spends cost conducts risk based supply chain. In other words supplier inspections it starts w