The Persistence of Environmental Injustice in a Putative ZEV Vehicle World in California.

[NNadir]

The paper to which I'll briefly refer is this one: Persistent Environmental Injustice due to Brake and Tire Wear Emissions and Heavy-Duty Trucks in Future California Zero-Emission Fleets Yifan Wen, Qiao Yu, Brian Yueshuai He, Jiaqi Ma, Shaojun Zhang, Ye Wu, and Yifang Zhu Environmental Science & Technology 2024 58 (43), 19372-19384.

I'm not a big fan of the fantasy that electric cars are "green," and I note the unexpected result of enthusiasm for them, ironically on the political left, has enriched an Apartheid era racist immigrant, who will apparently function as puppet master for a disgusting fool who will live in the White House, ending a 250 year old Democracy. It was unintentional of course, but nevertheless real.

As for the issue as to whether they have anything to do with the extreme global heating we are now experiencing, if there is any effect at all, it's trivial, and in many cases, it's worse than gasoline cars, as I discussed elsewhere with appeal to the grid on which I live, PJM:

A paper addressing the idea that electric cars are "green."

Having written the post above, one can conclude that I think the first paragraph of the paper referenced at the outset is bullshit, particularly the first sentence I will excerpt:

Zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) are key climate change mitigation tools that are expected to result in a variety of climate, air quality, and health benefits. (1?3) On-road traffic contributes substantially to air pollution and exposure disparities. (4?7) Exposure to traffic-related air pollution has lasting health impacts in communities that are living in close proximity to high-traffic arterial highways and freeways, resulting in increased risks of childhood asthma, bronchitis, and other cardiovascular diseases. (8,9) Historically, these areas have been characterized by high percentages of low-income, racial, and ethnic minority populations, (10?13) especially those in areas that are located near busy freight corridors that are frequently traversed by heavy-duty trucks (HDTs). (14,15) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported that 72 million Americans live in close proximity to heavy trucking corridors and are more likely to be people of color and in lower-income groups. (15) While HDTs constitute only 6% of the U.S. vehicle fleet, they were the second-largest source of transportation-related CO2 emissions (?23%) in 2021 (16) and generated 55% of the total particle pollution. (17) Promoting ZEVs, especially zero-emission HDTs, (5) is critical for achieving healthy and equitable energy transitions in the transportation sector...

I'm not fond of the last sentence in the excerpt either. The rest of the paper goes on to talk about the other pollutants from vehicles, specifically tire wear and brake residue, which of course, are problems now, but, the authors remind us, will remain a problem.

...California has taken a leadership role in promoting ZEVs. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) defines ZEVs as vehicle technologies that include battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). With the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045, (18) the CARB approved the Advanced Clean Cars II rule in 2022, (19) which requires that all new passenger cars, pickup trucks, and sport-utility vehicles sold in California to be ZEVs by 2035. In addition, the CARB adopted the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation in April 2023, (20) which established a world-first mandate to end combustion engine sales for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in California. This includes a 100% ZEV sales requirement for truck manufacturers starting in 2036.

ZEVs have the potential to substantially reduce tailpipe emissions. However, they still emit nonexhaust particles that are generated from the frictional processes associated with vehicle usage, including brake wear, tire wear, road surface wear, and resuspension of road dust. (21?27) In recent years, nonexhaust particle emissions have surpassed exhaust emissions as contributors to total traffic-attributed fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in California. (28,29) This trend is expected to continue, which is driven by the phasing out of older vehicles, larger ZEV fleets, and the absence of legislation to limit or reduce nonexhaust particles. (21,22,30,31) Recent evidence indicates that the particles generated from brake and tire wear (BTW) emissions are important sources of metals (e.g., Pb, Cr, Zn, Ba, Sb, and Cu) (30,32) and contribute a substantial fraction of the trace elements (33,34) in urban atmospheres...

The paper was obviously written before the American electorate decided to commit destroy their way of life, commit a form of political suicide, so the "by 2036" won't happen, any more than in my life time 100% (so called) "renewable energy" "by 1990," "by 2000," "by 2010," and "by 2020" didn't happen.

The full paper is open to the public.

If you're interested, enjoy the read. I'm not going to spend any time on it. I note that the biggest environmental injustice connected with electric cars involves the cobalt miners in Africa who have functioned as Eloon's slaves. He'll be bringing his slavery here now.

Have a nice evening.