Our View: Truly sustainable mobility demands multiple solutions

In her book "Bird by Bird," Anne Lemott describes the harrowing task of putting an octopus to bed: You give everything you have as you wrestle and fight just to get four or five tentacles under the sheets. And, all the while, three more of those strong, spindly, sucker arms break free.

For those across our industries navigating the sustainability terrain, the metaphor is apt. Sustainability—for a single company or entire industry—is simply overwhelming. Yes, it is imperative, but it also is much more easily articulated than achieved. Because sustainability simultaneously requires technologies we have, infrastructure we don't and innovation that we desperately need.

The automotive industry, for one, is racing—somewhat blindly—toward sustainability, and it has chosen to build its more sustainable future around battery electric vehicles. Globally, that rush toward sustainability via the electrified highway means manufacturing 44 million BEVs by 2030—a 500-percent increase from the 8.8 million rolling off production lines today.

And that surge unearths deeper, more concerning issues for the automotive supply chain. Particularly when it comes to raw materials availability and the capabilities of our electrical grids.

Automotive News reported May 10 that the expected increase in demand for BEVs will require 3.4 terrawatt hours of power—significantly more than the 0.5 terrawatt hours BEVs use today.

That's a heckuva lot of power. For perspective: One terrawatt can power an estimated 70,000 homes for an entire year.

And speaking of raw materials, that demand would push the limits of our planet's resources. Demand for lithium could increase six times by 2030, cobalt by four times and nickel by seven times.

For the industry, it all adds up to more tentacles popping free from the blankets. Solutions creating problems that need more solutions.

This is not to say that BEVs are not viable or important to our sustainable mobility conundrum. On the contrary, they are needed. Desperately.

But they are just one solution. And they cannot be the only solution.

So what about hydrogen?

Michelin, Faurecia S.E. and Stellantis believe fully in the technology, especially in the long-haul trucking space, given that fuel cells weigh far less than batteries, which allows fleets to carry heavier loads.

Additionally, hydrogen is abundant, Michelin says, and—with the right infrastructure investments—could eventually be inexpensive to produce. Plus, there's the benefit of full charges coming in just 10 to 15 minutes and the fact that the only byproduct of the zero-emissions technology is water.

To this end, the aforementioned companies have joined forces to bring hydrogen technology forward for mobility. Today, they are proving the technology's capabilities in California and are advocating for more robust infrastructure investments that will allow the technology to grow.

We applaud these endeavors because mobility needs them. And the planet does, too.

When the auto industry finds its sweet spot—that place where BEVs, plug-in hybrids, HFCVs and ICEs all have their place—we'll be in a better position to move forward more sustainably.

Maybe then the octopus—finally—will be able to rest.