I was recently reading that lithium mining for electric vehicle batteries is wreaking havoc on deserts in Chile.
One proposed alternative to EVs in the search for a replacement for petroleum-fueled vehicles is hydrogen vehicles. The most promising type of hydrogen vehicle uses a fuel cell to convert the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity, with the only byproduct being water.
But I'm wondering if hydrogen vehicles may also have unique supply-chain issues like EVs.
Are there significant environmental concerns or issues with supplying the necessary materials to mass-produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles?
I'm interested in issues related to production of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles themselves -- not the fuel source, and not vehicles in general. I assume that there is technology in the vehicle for converting hydrogen fuel into energy, that does not exist in any other type of vehicle.