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Ever since the turn of the 20th century cars have been the lifeblood of an industrialized world.
自20世纪初以来，汽车一直是工业化世界的命脉。
Ferrying people to and from jobs, houses, and cities, the car has, for many, become a necessity to live.
汽车接送人们在工作、房屋和城市之间往返，对许多人来说，汽车已经成为生活的必需品。
And for others it seems as if it has grown into something a little bit more than that.
对于其他人来说，汽车似乎已经发展为更重要的东西。
We in the imperial core have built our lives around a contraption that guzzles fossil fuels.
我们处在帝国核心，生活在一个消耗化石燃料的奇妙装置四周。
That is, up until recently, when the electric car seems to have become a viable alternative.
也就是说，直到最近，电动汽车似乎已经成为一种可行的替代方案。
Indeed, drivers are now clambering to own an electric car.
事实上，司机们现在都在努力争取拥有一辆电动汽车。
Just a decade ago, in 2012, 130,000 electric cars were sold worldwide, representing 0.17% of the car market.
就在十年前的2012年，全球电动汽车销量为13万辆，占全球汽车市场的0.17%。
Nine years later the world bought 6.6 million electric cars, or 8.5% of the global car sales for that year.
九年后，全球购买了660万辆电动汽车，占当年全球汽车销量的8.5%。
Charging stations are springing up across Europe, the United States, and China, and the quiet hum of electric engines are blessing streets with their silence.
充电站在欧洲、美国和中国各地如雨后春笋般涌现，发出安静嗡嗡声的电动发动机正用它们的沉默保佑着街道。
In theory, this is exciting.
从理论上讲，这很令人兴奋。
Drivers are lining up to switch from emissions heavy gas-guzzlers to clean, electrified cars, while major car companies have all but declared the end of the internal combustion engine.
司机们正排着队要从排放大油耗高的汽车转向清洁的电动汽车，而各大汽车公司几乎已经宣布内燃机的终结。
But, throughout this narrative, I can’t help but think there’s something missing.
但是，在这整个叙述过程中，我不禁认为其中遗漏了一些东西。
Is this the path we want to go down?
这是我们想要走的路吗？
Are electric cars the most effective solution to zero-carbon transportation?
电动汽车是零碳交通最有效的解决方案吗？
Is there maybe a better path forward?
有没有更好的出路？
If you watch most videos about Tesla's, you’re bound to start believing they’re a miracle car.
如果你看了大多数关于特斯拉的视频，你肯定会开始相信他们的汽车是奇迹。
Clean, green, and chic, Tesla has successfully built a brand the melds exclusivity with an eco-superiority complex.
干净、绿色和别致的特斯拉已经成功地建立了一个将排他性与生态优势和情结融为一体的品牌。
But as much as Tesla owners, and electric vehicle owners in general, want to believe that their vehicles are guilt-free, they’re sadly wrong.
尽管特斯拉车主和一般的电动汽车车主都很想相信他们的汽车是无污染的，但可悲的是，他们错了。
The electric car not only still causes emissions across its lifetime, but the expansion of the electric vehicle industry could keep imperialist extraction in the Global South entrenched for decades to come.
不仅电动汽车在整个生命周期内仍会产生排放，而且电动汽车行业的扩张可能会让帝国主义在未来几十年里于南半球根深蒂固。
In terms of emissions, lifecycle assessment after a lifecycle assessment has made one thing clear: the electric car is significantly cleaner than its gas-powered cousin.
在排放方面，一次又一次的生命周期评估已经明确了一件事：电动汽车比燃气车要清洁得多。
That being said, the extraction of materials, manufacturing, and charging that are required to put electric vehicles on the road still create a fair amount of emissions.
话虽如此，电动汽车上路所需的原材料提取、制造和充电仍然会产生相当大的排放。
A medium sized electric car in Europe, for example, creates around 76–83 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent for every kilometer driven across its lifetime.
例如，在欧洲，一辆中型电动汽车在其整个生命周期内每行驶一公里，就会产生约76-83克二氧化碳。
For comparison, a similar sized car with a conventional engine emits the equivalent of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer.
相比之下，类似大小的汽车如果配备传统发动机，每公里的排放量相当于250克二氧化碳。
Right now, lifecycle emissions of electric cars in Europe are 66-69% lower than gas powered cars, with that range dropping a little lower to 60%–68% in the United States, and 37%–45% in China.
目前，欧洲电动汽车的生命周期排放量比燃气车低66-69%，美国略低至60%-68%，中国为37%-45%。
And those numbers will continue to drop as electricity grids decarbonize.
随着电网脱碳，这些数字将继续下降。
But a dark reality underlies some of these promising numbers.
但其中一些令人振奋的数字背后隐藏着一个黑暗的现实。
The material consequences of completely switching to electric cars are immense.
完全改用电动汽车的物质代价是巨大的。
Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge, Michael Kelly, conservatively estimates that if all of the U.K. switched over to electric vehicles, they would need just under twice the annual production of cobalt, three quarters of the world’s production of lithium carbonate, and more than half of the world’s annual production of copper.
剑桥大学理工学院教授迈克尔·凯利保守估计，如果所有英国人都改用电动汽车，将需要近两倍年产量的钴，四分之三全球产量的碳酸锂，以及超一半全球年产量的铜。
And that’s just for the U.K.
这还只是英国的数据。
There are an estimated 1.4 billion cars on the road right now, so the resource demand of switching to electric motors will put immense pressure on countries in the imperial periphery who already provide the majority of the precious metals and materials for electric cars.
据估计，目前道路上有14亿辆汽车，因此改用电动发动机的资源需求将给帝国外围国家带来巨大压力，这些国家已经提供了电动汽车所需的绝大多数贵金属和材料。
This extractivist relationship has led to exploitative mining conditions in the Global South, so that the Global North can glide around emissions-free and enjoy luxury tech items.
这种采掘主义的关系使南半球的开采条件得以形成，这样北半球就可以在零排放的情况下驰骋，享受奢侈的科技产品。
In some ways, we might be replacing oil for precious metals and raw materials.
在某种程度上，我们可能正在用贵金属和原材料取代石油。
And looking towards the future it’s not too far of a leap to imagine the U.S. going to war to protect lithium deposits instead of oil interests.
展望未来，不难想象美国为了保护锂矿藏而非石油利益而开战。
Electric cars embody imperialist relationships, but even if EVs were a perfect transportation option, “the most optimistic projections suggest that the U.S. fleet will only be about 50 per cent electrified by 2050.
电动汽车体现了帝国主义关系，但即使电动汽车是完美的交通工具，最乐观的预测也表明，到2050年，美国车队的电气化程度仅为50%左右。
A number well below what we need to keep within 2 degrees Celsius of warming.
这个数字远远低于我们将全球变暖控制在2摄氏度以内所需的数字。
All of this is to say: electric cars emit less than gas powered vehicles across their lifetime, but they are still not the cleanest or most ethical transportation option.
所有这些都是说：在整个生命周期中，电动汽车的排放量低于燃气车，但它们仍然不是最清洁或最环保的交通工具。
They are a stopgap solution.
它们只是权宜之计。
A truly carbon-free and anti-extractivist, anti-imperialist transportation system looks much different than the sprawling U.S. streets and extensive highway systems of the world.
一个真正的无碳、反采掘主义和反帝国主义的交通运输系统，看起来与杂乱无章的美国街道和世界各地四通八达的高速公路系统有很大不同。
So, in order to understand what’s needed we must walk out of our garage, down the street, into city centers, and hop onto a bus.
因此，为了了解需求，我们必须走出车库，沿着街道进入市中心，然后跳上一辆公交车。
