The problem is not so much the production of lithium or the manufacturing of the Li-ion battery, but the fact that electrical vehicles must be recharged with electricity produced in a power plant burning fossil fuels so most of the tail-pipe emissions are transferred to the power station. Granted that power stations are more efficient than internal combustion engines, granted that not all electricity is generated from burning fossil fuels and granted that an EV does not emit NOx, SOx, particulates and other nasties. China has the World’s largest number of EVs but they are fighting pollution not energy conservation or climatic change. A recent study stated that 1.4 million Chinese die every year from the emission of air particulates from cars. For them, it is a question of been able to breath...
You may find these two papers of interest:
Notter, D. et al. “Contribution of Li-Ion batteries to the environmental impact of electric vehicles” Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44, 6550–6556 http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es903729a
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