The world needs to get off fossil fuels, and fast — it's been clear for a while that a warming planet is going to have catastrophic consequences on sea levels, fresh water sources, and ecosystems. As if that weren't enough, exhaust fumes can also wreak havoc on air quality and public health, as Los Angeles discovered when it became choked with smog in the mid-20th century. Thankfully, stricter EPA standards tamped down on (though didn't fully solve) the problem, and there's absolutely no way the EPA would
ever go back on— oh, wait, uh, forget that part.
Zero emission vehicles like EVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen cars have long been talked about as a key part of the solution to global warming, but what about public health? Would driving around in a refreshed Chevy Bolt actually make your neighbors live longer? Well, according to a new study out of the University of Southern California, the answer is yes, actually.
As the USC scientists note in their report, a number of studies have been done based on projections of pollution and public health, but until now, there hadn't been one on actual real-world data. With California's relatively high adoption rate for EVs, the team was able to comb through data from 2013 to 2019 to see what impact electrification was actually having. How's this for an effect: An increase of just 20 ZEVs per 1,000 people resulted in a 3.2% drop in asthma-related visits to the emergency room. That's an enormous health benefit for just 20 cars.
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Driving In Dirty Air, Literally
The report points out that Americans spend $56 billion on asthma every year, including $50 billion on treating it. Other studies cited in the report have calculated that switching over to ZEVs altogether would save $1.2 trillion in healthcare by 2050, preventing 2.7 million asthma attacks and saving 110,000 lives. The team at USC have found tangible evidence that this is plausible. That's a lot of lives either saved or improved just by purchasing a different ride.
The fact that car pollution is bad for you isn't exactly new; again, the major takeaway here is just how big an impact comes from only a few more ZEVs on the road. However, the other big finding is that these effects are highly localized. Rich zip codes tend to have more ZEVs than poorer ones, which means the associated health benefits are concentrated there. With federal tax credits expiring, not to mention tariff chaos, electric car prices are only going to get more out of reach for many people.
America needs to wean itself off of its dinosaur juice addiction, but the speed at which that happens won't be the same for everyone. Things are likely to get better in wealthy neighborhoods first, unless there's a systemic effort to make the solutions more affordable. Alas, that's not exactly the direction we're all headed in right now.
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