Did you know that in addition to being less expensive to operate, electric vehicles (EVs) are good for our health? EVs now include: cars, city buses, school buses, and all kinds of trucks – even some tractor-trailers are partially electric.
EarthJustice has article about EVs, including how EVs are good for health. EVs don’t make particle pollution while you are driving them. They don’t release pollution that leads to ozone formation, unlike gas cars and diesel trucks and buses. The only air pollution comes from the electricity generation, and as more and more utilities install solar and wind farms, EVs are cleaner every year.
EVs are also good for climate change, which is already damaging our health. Here in the Southeast we have already seen heatwaves, stronger hurricanes, and wildfires exacerbated by climate change. Power sources that make health damaging air pollution, also create climate change. Climate change is a true crisis, and will seriously affect everyone’s health.
Because EVs are so much more efficient at converting electricity into power for cars and trucks, even with the dirtiest electricity production they are still cleaner than gasoline or diesel. No matter the source of electricity (coal/gas vs. solar/wind), EVs make less air pollution and less carbon pollution. As more and more cities and counties pledge to become 100% renewable clean energy, the pollution from power generation will become less each year.
The lower amount of air pollution from EVs means: fewer heart attacks, less lung disease, less asthma, fewer strokes, fewer cancers, and fewer people dying too early. EarthJustice notes that every gallon of gasoline is responsible for $3.80 in health and environmental costs, and every gallon of diesel is responsible in $4.80 in those same costs.
As more and more EVs get on the road, communities that are burdened with too many highways and too many diesel truck shipping hubs will have less and less air pollution. As diesel trucks are replaced by EV trucks, people’s health will improve. The heart and lung ailments caused by “diesel death zones” will be far fewer. For energy justice and environmental justice, we need to be sure we don’t repeat the environmental racism that has created current inequities, and that overburdened communities have just as much EV infrastructure installed.
Some states and many cities have pledged to go with renewable clean energy by 2040 or 2050, and California has just passed a new electric truck standard. Because of this, more and more cars, buses, and trucks will be EVs, and the prices will drop. It will be good for the whole country.
Read the complete EarthJustice article here. They have links to studies and legislation about EVs.
