In my recent “Cage Match Conversation” with fellow WDEV radio host Kevin Ellis (Great debate, check out the podcast!), the subject of electric vehicles and the recent decision by Congress to end the EPA’s ability to regulate tailpipe CO2 emissions as pollutants came up. I pointed out the reason for this policy change is that CO2 isn’t a health hazard to humans the way particulate pollution is – the stuff responsible for smog, etc. I also mentioned in passing that data shows that the particulate pollution coming from tire wear is now worse than that coming out of tailpipes, and EVs, because they are 30 percent heavier than comparable ICE vehicles, have more tire wear, and are thus worse polluters at least in regard to their impact on human health.
Kevin’s eyebrows raised, and he said he wanted to see the data. And I thought you might like too as well!
A good study comes from the UK-based Emissions Analytics, an organization dedicated to emissions reduction. When the first claims about EVs being the bigger polluters due to tire wear surfaced, Emissions Analytics was just as skeptical as Kevin. However, they did their due diligence and conducted their own research. The title of their report sums up their findings: “Gaining traction, losing tread. Pollution from tire wear now 1800 times worse than exhaust emissions.” They explain,
The fundamental trends that drive this ratio are: tailpipe particulate emissions are much lower on new cars, and tire wear emissions increase with vehicle mass and aggressiveness of driving style. Tailpipe emissions are falling over time, as exhaust filters become more efficient… while tire wear emissions are rising as vehicles become heavier and added power and torque is placed at the driver’s disposal….
…Half a tonne of battery weight can result in tire emissions that are almost 400 more times greater than real-world tailpipe emissions, everything else being equal.
In regard to human health impacts, Emissions Analytics reports,
An important difference between tire and tailpipe particle emissions is that most of the former is understood to go straight to soil and water, whereas most of the latter is suspended in air for a period, and therefore negatively affects air quality…. [But] the airborne tire emissions are… still more than 400 times higher than tailpipe emissions….
Growing scientific evidence suggests that these ultrafine particles more easily enter the human bloodstream and lungs, and cross into the brain….
And, to reiterate, EVs, because of their additional weight, create more tire wear than ICE vehicles.
For those who choose to disbelieve the source, here’s what the radical lefties over at the Sierra Club have to say on the subject:
One of the potential unintended consequences of the transition to electric vehicles could be more microplastics. When rubber meets road, tires shed small synthetic polymers less than five millimeters in diameter. Electric vehicles, often presented as the best ways to reduce carbon emissions and the key to addressing climate change, shed more particles than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles…. Once in the environment, tire particles threaten human and wildlife health through countless pathways.
Of course, none of this considers the environmental damage caused by the mining necessary for EV batteries (or the child and/or slave labor used to do that mining in many cases), or that the amount of electricity generated to power the EV’s is in many cases provided by fossil fuel power plants, creating a double whammy.
Why is this important to the climate policy debate here in Vermont? Because all other arguments in favor of implementing Global Warming Solutions Act policies having failed – “We’re saving the planet!” Nope. “We’re doing our part!” Nope. “We’re helping the poor!” Nope. – the latest and perhaps last fallback position is, “It’s a healthcare issue.” And, sad trombone slide, it’s not. The opposite. The policy to push for EVs makes human, animal, and ecological health worse. And all of us poorer, because governments have blown an awful lot of our money on this toxic boondoggle.
So, all you environmentally pious EV drivers who bought into the baloney that you were somehow saving humanity with your choice of vehicle, get off your high horse and, if you’re serious about reducing emissions, onto a real one. A much more earth friendly choice for getting around. As for the politicians wasting money subsidizing this amazingly bad policy, stop trying to help. You’re not good at it.
