Our great state has become one of the fastest-growing markets for electric vehicles (EVs) in the country. Despite the growth, EVs still make up a small fraction of the cars on our roads, giving us an opportunity for growth. The bad news for Georgia is that the tax credit is eliminated in the transportation funding bill, HB 170, and HB 122. These efforts would abolish Georgia’s tax credit for EVs and alternative fuel vehicles. The good news is that HB 220 (Rep. Ben Harbin) would extend the tax credit for EVs.
M&O supports HB 220 and opposes any effort to eliminate the tax incentive on the purchase or lease of an EV, because encouraging the use of more EVs is essential to reducing harmful transportation-related pollution.
Emissions from the tailpipes of cars and trucks attribute to 53,000 premature deaths per year. EV’s produce zero harmful tailpipe emissions, however, producing the electricity used to charge an EV releases emissions. That being said, EVs are cleaner than the conventional gasoline vehicle. The emissions associated with an average EV in Georgia are set to drop even more as the state obtains more of its power from renewable energy. And in addition, the vehicle miles traveled per unit of energy is higher for electric vehicles, so even if everything else was the same, more electric vehicles would mean cleaner air.
Most power plants release emissions at the top of tall exhaust stacks, while virtually all exhaust from transportation vehicles is emitted at ground level where people live, work, play and breathe, putting people closer to the pollution source.
These near-roadway exposures are of growing concern, and may affect many more people than previously thought. The Health Effects Institute (HEI) in 2010 published the most recent review of the health effects from exposures to traffic-generated air pollutants –they concluded that as much as 30 to 45 percent of people in large North American cities live in areas that were impacted by traffic-related air pollution, a zone they identified as 300 to 500 meters from the roadside.
According to the Institute, traffic-generated pollution causes asthma attacks in children and may cause the onset of asthma, premature death, impaired lung function and cardiovascular disease. In Georgia, we should be concerned about the effects of traffic-generated pollution on the health of our children. With one in 12 children suffering from asthma, there is a costly price tag in health care costs. In 2010, asthma related hospitalizations for children amounted to over $27 million dollars.
A new study in the American Thoracic Society Journals finds that long-term exposure to traffic emissions and fine particulate matter results in lung function decline.
Click here on the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s website to voice your support for the continuation of the tax incentive for EVs in Georgia.
