Not as many electric vehicles are needed to boost public health

It seems that an electric vehicle would produce less air pollution than a gasoline-powered vehicle. Carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, aldehydes, and other combustion byproducts are absent when there is no engine. These substances, when breathed, can increase blood pressure, exacerbate emphysema, and bring on asthma episodes. In the US, air pollution is a factor in up to 200,000 fatalities annually. According to some estimations, the health and financial advantages of avoiding air pollution are sufficient to support the switch to clean energy.

These health issues would be reduced if internal combustion automobiles and trucks were replaced with electric ones. A recent study also showed that not many EVs are needed to get meaningful benefits.

According to a recent research in the journal Science of the Total Environment, the number of emergency room visits for asthma in California decreased by 3.2 percent for every 20 zero-emission automobiles per 1,000 residents in a particular zip code. It's noteworthy that actual air pollution levels and health consequences were examined by the researchers rather than models and simulations in order to arrive at this conclusion. These advantages now exist; they are not hypothetical ones in the future.

According to co-author Sandy Eckel, a biostatistician at the University of Southern California, researchers wanted to utilize real-world data, as real-world as possible, to see if they found health implications and air quality impacts.

The study's results show that even for a major global issue like climate change, certain individual actions can have an immediate influence. Health is frequently positioned as a co-benefit of the switch to cleaner energy. The research also revealed that EVs are a costly means of reducing pollution, and their advantages are disproportionately seen by areas with greater financial resources. This frequently leaves areas with lower incomes and higher levels of pollution in the dust.

If you can afford them, EVs can improve your health

Between 2013 and 2019, Eckel and her colleagues examined 1,200 zip codes throughout the Golden State. They monitored local readings of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant produced by traditional engines that can cause respiratory issues on its own and stimulate the creation of other pollutants like ozone and particulate matter, as well as registrations of electric vehicles.

While not being engaged in the trial, Kathy Harris, senior advocate for clean cars at the Natural Resources Defense Council, stated that the study adds to a solid body of evidence that indicates the benefits of electric vehicles. And yet, EV adoption wasn't uniformly distributed across the state.

According to Erika Garcia, a second co-author and a public health researcher at USC, there are a lot of diverse social demographics there as well. As part of the analytic approach, they did control certain impacts of socioeconomic level.

The researchers focused on education levels, which were used as a stand-in for community wealth. The proportion of adults in Californian zip codes having at least a bachelor's degree ranged from 1.1 percent to 87.1 percent. Communities with a 25th percentile education level, or 17.1 percent of individuals with bachelor's degrees, had an average annual growth of 0.7 zero-emissions vehicles per 1,000 residents. The average yearly rise in electric automobiles was 3.55 at the 75th percentile for education, or 47.2 percent of persons with bachelor's degrees; this increase was over five times greater.

Closing the EV adoption gap may be politically difficult. A ballot initiative that would have increased taxes on rich citizens to fund EV subsidies for underprivileged and low-income neighborhoods was defeated by California voters last November.

Nevertheless, EVs aren't the only way to cut air pollution, and they often aren't the best one. While they don't produce any exhaust pollution, electric cars and trucks tend to be heavier than their gasoline equivalents, which might result in greater road and rubber dust pollution. In certain cases, the largest EVs are more harmful to the environment than the smaller combustion cars. The Hummer EV and other large vehicles use more energy to move. The carbon footprint of a large electric vehicle (EV) per mile may be higher than that of a small gasoline vehicle since the majority of the US power infrastructure still relies on fossil fuels.

Harris noted that in order to reach the most vulnerable populations with the advantages of improving air quality, it is necessary to go beyond personal vehicles' tailpipes. Other crucial strategies include electrifying fleet cars, trucks, and public transportation, which frequently go through areas of low income. The largest improvements to health might come from making it simpler to live without any form of transportation. The California legislature authorized a $1,000 tax credit last year for low-income citizens without cars.