It is clear that hybrid/electric vehicles [(H)EVs] are only as green as the materials and energy that they use. According to MIT, the production and processing of rare earth elements (REEs) found in (H)EVs come with their own hefty environmental price tag (K. Bourzac, ''The Rare-Earth Crisis,'' MIT Technol. Rev., 114(3):58-63, 2011). These damages include radioactive wastewater leaks and 'slash-and-burn processes' required to manufacture and separate REEs. Some life cycle assessment (LCA) studies found that the carbon advantage of an electric vehicle over an internal combustion engine vehicle is small considering the production/manufacturing and end-of-life stages (C.-W. Yap, ''China Ends Rare-Earth