Ford’s F-150 Lightning electrical truck spews no nasty tailpipe gases into the air, which means it ought to assist create a more healthy atmosphere for your loved ones and your local people. However mining the aluminum utilized in that truck is allegedly inflicting critical well being issues for an additional group 1000’s of miles away in Brazil.

Now a class-action lawsuit representing 11,000 folks residing close to the Hydro Alunorte refinery in Barcarena hopes to carry the plant and its homeowners accountable for the results of the poisonous waste the plaintiffs say is contaminating the area’s water provide. The go well with alleges that the refinery – the world’s greatest outdoors China, in response to the corporate’s web site – has launched hint quantities of aluminum and different metals into the native atmosphere resulting in folks creating numerous sicknesses together with cancers and start defects.

Ford doesn’t personal the refinery; it belongs to the Norwegian firm Norsk Hydro. However a Bloomberg investigation traced aluminum used within the F-150 again to the Brazilian plant through a convoluted path that features a components producer in Pennsylvania and a smelter in Canada. Like many automakers, Ford has switched to the advantages of utilizing aluminum within the building of a few of its autos. The fabric was already well-liked amongst luxurious vehicles for its capacity to scale back total automobile weight and that want has solely grown with the arrival of EVs with heavy battery packs. Every F-150 Lightning accommodates 682 lbs (309 kg) of aluminum in contrast with round 500 lbs (227 kg) within the common U.S. automobile, the report states.

Associated: Ford Confirms F-150 Lightning EV Manufacturing Stopped Over A Battery Hearth

Although the mine that gouges the bauxite mineral from the earth has been beforehand accused of environmental hurt, it’s particularly the refinery that converts the bauxite into alumina, which is then became aluminum, that’s beneath the highlight on this case. Assessments on rivers and streams near the location have discovered ranges of poisonous supplies 57 instances above protected ranges and one resident was found to have 175 instances the protected restrict for aluminum in her hair and 81 instances the restrict in her blood. Norsk Hydro refutes the allegations and has till March 8 to reply formally. 

The story is an unlucky black mark on the inexperienced credentials of Ford’s EV truck, and a reminder that there’s extra to calculating a automobile’s influence on the planet than merely taking a look at its tailpipe emissions.

“Ford is dedicated to a provide chain that exceeds minimal regulatory compliance necessities and respects human rights, together with the precise to scrub air and clear water,” a spokesperson for the automaker advised Bloomberg when contacted for a remark.