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In 2019, 1.5 million new electronic battery cars were purchased globally; this raised the total number to 4.8 million (Wagner, 2020).

Electric car purchases are slightly motivated by long-term economic ownership benefits, but the ethical reasoning of reduced air pollution and climate change reign supreme.
There is, however, a growing moral conflict occurring during the purchase of these vehicles. Nearly These “ethical” vehicles are powered by lithium-ion batteries where Cobalt is the star ingredient. Twenty percent of the world’s cobalt is mined by independent companies in DR Congo that employ child workers as young as ten years old earning between $3.50 and $10 a day for heavy and even life-endangering labor. Overexposure to cobalt from working in these mines without proper protection and labor laws is causing cases of asthma, pneumonia, heart and thyroid damage (Fleming, 2018). The rise of electric cars and accompanying high cobalt prices are making these working conditions increasingly tempting for the Congo’s starving population and are thus risking their potential health and safety (Sanderson, 2019).

In collaboration with their Chinese battery producer CATL, the company has developed a new lithium-iron phosphate battery, the company’s first cobalt-free battery. This battery is being incorporated in the Tesla Model 3 sedans that the company builds and sells in China, the world’s largest electronic vehicle consumer (Szymkowski, 2020). Due to the company’s 29% percent share of the global electronic vehicle market, their elimination of cobalt-powered batteries can decrease the number of these independent mines and the sequential amount of child labor immensely (Shahan, 2020).

These cobalt-free batteries are not only attacking a moral issue, but also an economical one. As cobalt is lithium batteries’ most expensive ingredient, the removal of this can significantly decrease the price of the model 3, which is currently priced just below $40,000 (Reuters, 2020). This price decrease is lowering the income-related barrier to purchase “luxury” electronic cars and increase adoption, one of Elon Musk’s key ambitions (Rowlatt, 2020). Thus, these cobalt-free batteries are the way to make “ethical” electronic cars truly ethical.

Bibliography

Rowlatt, J. 2020. How Elon Musk aims to revolutionise battery technology. BBC News, [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53067009 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2020].

Sanderson, H. 2019. Congo, child labour and your electric car. Financial Times, [online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/c6909812-9ce4-11e9-9c06-a4640c9feebb [Accessed 5 Oct. 2020].

Fleming, S. 2018. The hidden cost of the electric car boom – child labour. World Economic Forum, [online] Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/the-hidden-cost-of-the-electric-car-boom-child-labour/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2020].

Wagner, I. 2020. Worldwide number of battery electric vehicles in use from 2012 to 2019. Statista, [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/270603/worldwide-number-of-hybrid-and-electric-vehicles-since-2009/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2020].

Szymkowski, S. 2020. Tesla on the cusp of cobalt-free batteries for China, report says. Road Show, [online] Available at: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-cobalt-free-batteries-china/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2020].

Reuters. 2020. Tesla to roll out China-made Model 3 cars with cobalt-free LFP batteries: sources. [online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-china/tesla-to-roll-out-china-made-model-3-cars-with-cobalt-free-lfp-batteries-sources-idUSKBN26L26S [Accessed 5 Oct. 2020].

Shahan, Z. 2020. #1 Tesla = 29% of Global Electric Vehicle Market in Q1 2020. CleanTechnica, [online] Available at: https://cleantechnica.com/2020/05/24/1-tesla-29-of-global-electric-vehicle-market-in-q1-2020/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2020].

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RPA, better known as robotic process automation, is the process of using built software robots to perform human tasks. These tasks range form reading a simple email to AI data mining (Garrett, 2020). RPA differs from traditional automation, because its core is built in user-friendliness. Where traditional automation is mainly based on programming and relies on API’s and integration methods with different systems, RPA mimics user actions at the User Interface level. Thus, these robots interact with computers the same way a human would (Medium, 2017).

But why are companies so interested in RPA?
RPA takes over mundane tasks, so companies can harness their employees to do meaningful work. The software also cooperates with most companies’ legacy systems and works on top op existing software, making implementation and integration a breeze for consumers and developers alike. Furthermore, companies using RPA can reduce baseline FTE costs by 20-60% and increase quality control by 80% with a 24-hour program that is not limited to working hours (EY, 2017). These are only a few of the benefits of RPA.

Threat for existing workforce?
These highlighted benefits would make RPA seem like the perfect solution to remove the boring monotonous parts of everyone’s job and increase productivity. Yet, this technology is becoming a likely threat to job security.
RPA is already being used for NLP and knowledge-intensive activities and its compatibility with AI and Deep Analytics is only advancing. AI is slowly starting to perform context-based judgements and make correct deductions through algorithms (Sinur, 2020). If this technology can correctly be combined with RPA’s automation. These technologies can discover, assess and correctly anticipate market behavior. Mastering these skills could be where this technology transitions from one that enables your output to one that will replace your input.

Impact of COVID-19
As with many other technological developments, COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of this technology immensely. An airline company has used RPA to increase its claim resolution capability to over 4,000 per day (Garrett, 2020). In the healthcare industry, Dublin’s Mater Misericordiae University Hospital has used RPA to speed up their processing of test results (Team International, 2020). Outside these heavily affected industries, however, the trend is catching on as well. Thirty-one percent of companies have recently increased their RPA spending and it is predicted that 85% of large organizations in the US will have employed some form of RPA by the end of 2022 (Garrett 2020).
With employees increasingly working from home, now more than ever they must prove their contributions invaluable to company results. If they can’t, their robot replacements are right around the corner.

References

Sinur, J. 2020. The Potential of AI & RPA Together. Forbes, [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2020/03/24/the-potential-of-ai–rpa-together/#170bf9b02a71 [Accessed 20 Sept. 2020].

Garret, O. 2020. RPA: The Most Important Megatrend You’re Not Hearing About. Forbes, [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliviergarret/2020/08/25/rpa-the-most-important-megatrend-youre-not-hearing-about/#2ae45c640bf6 [Accessed 20 Sept. 2020].

Medium. 2020. Robotic Process Automation vs Traditional Automation. [online] Available at: https://medium.com/@gobiraj/robotic-process-automation-rpa-vs-traditional-automation-6f58c99f8e8e#:~:text=Technology,at%20the%20User%20Interface%20level. [Accessed 20 Sept. 2020].

Team International. 2020. RPA Value – How RPA Proved Its Value During the COVID-19 Times. [online] Available at: https://www.teaminternational.com/rpa-value-during-the-covid-19-times/ [Accessed 20 Sept. 2020].

2017. 2017. The Dawn of a New Partnership. [online] Available at: https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-faas-finance-function-automation-ch/$FILE/ey-faas-finance-function-automation-ch.pdf [Accessed 20 Sept. 2020].