Tuesday 14 December 2021

Electric vehicles are not pollution-free

 Under the dogmatic headlines "electric cars a dead-end diversion" and "Electric cars are no answer to pollution", an article in the current railwatch magazine begins:

The benefits of switching to electric vehicles to clean up our toxic air were given plenty of attention at COP26, said Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation.

However, evidence shows that electric cars still emit PM2.5 particles, the most worrying form of pollution for humans.

I would guess that the particles are abraded from brake pads and tyres, and thus a problem for any type of vehicle no matter what the method of propulsion. This is surely not insoluble. A change in the materials used could produce particles which cause less harm. 

The loss of harmful oxides, particularly those of nitrogen, is surely a positive result from replacing propulsion by internal combustion with electric power.


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