Health benefits of driving an EV

Health benefits of driving an EV

Editor Wakesho
Photo courtesy: car and driver

Clean air will reduce health problems and costs caused by air pollution. Electric vehicles are also quit than petrol/diesel cars which means less noise pollution. EVs can also reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change and smog, improving public health and reducing ecological damage.

Burning gas or diesel is also responsible for the emission of a wide range of health-affecting pollutants. Unborn and newborn children, people with chronic illnesses, and the elderly are most at risk from almost all of their effects.

Electric Vehicles create zero emissions from the tailpipe, meaning they can not emit any health-impacting pollutants into the environment. According to a study by VUB University in Brussels shows that the lifecycle of greenhouse gas emissions from electric vehicles (including manufacture, transportation, and disposal) are about a quarter less than for ICEs, even when the electricity they’re using comes almost entirely from coal-fired power stations.

The lifecycle of greenhouse gas emissions of electric vehicles is about 85 percent less than that of Internal Combustion Engine vehicles. However, all vehicles including the EVs create some particulate from tire and brake wear.  However, with EV’s regenerative braking systems, even these emissions are less than for ICE vehicles.

Here are some of the statistics of don side of ICEs that complicate health

  • Rates of premature death due to air pollution are stand at seven million annually according to WHO.
  • Rates of respiratory hospitalizations due to air pollution are 4.2 million deaths annually according to WHO report of
  • Rates of asthma-related ER visits due to air pollution are 5 times higher in high-poverty neighborhoods and 4 times higher in neighborhoods in which the majority of residents well off.

Some of the benefits of EVs

i) EVs help reduces climate threat produced from domestic sources, including coal, nuclear, natural gas, and renewable sources.

ii) EVs can also reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change and smog, improving public health and reducing ecological damage. Charging your EV on renewable energy such as solar or wind minimizes these emissions even more.

iii) Switching to electric vehicles reduces public health impacts by moving pollution out of densely populated urban areas.

iv) Electrifying transportation will double the climate benefits of decarbonizing our electric grid while also saving lives and improving the quality of life for the universe.