Eco-vehicles fill air with deadly toxins
Scientists have found electric, hybrid and other supposedly eco-friendly cars produce as much toxic particulate pollution as the “deadly diesels” they are meant to be replacing.
The tiny particles are produced by tyre and brake wear. This happens in all cars, including diesel and petrol, but eco-vehicles produce more because they are heavier, owing to the batteries and other parts needed to propel them. The extra emissions are roughly equal to the particulates saved by reduced engine use.
The added weight of eco-cars means that when they accelerate or slow down, the tyres and brakes wear faster, producing more particulates. The weight also whips up more particles from the road surface.
“We found that non-exhaust emissions, from brakes, tyres and the road, are far larger than exhaust emissions in all modern cars,” said Peter Achten, whose research is published in the journal Atmospheric Environment.
“These are more toxic than emissions from modern engines so they are likely to be key factors in the extra heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks seen when air pollution levels surge.”
Achten, who runs a scientific consultancy in Holland, and his co-author Victor Timmers, of Edinburgh University, used technical data from the motor industry and government research agencies, including direct tests of brake, tyre and road wear rates, to show that the non-exhaust emissions produced by a vehicle are directly related to its weight. They also built a database of vehicle weights.
“We found that electric and eco-friendly cars typically weigh 24% more than conventional cars,” said Achten.
The findings fit with anecdotal complaints from electric and hybrid car owners that their tyres wear out faster than on conventional vehicles.
Read more … http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/eco-vehicles-fill-air-with-deadly-toxins-jklbkzvwp
Times – Murdoch Paywall – Story cannot be read there.
Daily Mail has the same story for FREE, plus the usual
array of sarcastic public comment, and more besides.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3579878/Electric-hybrid-eco-friendly-cars-air-toxins-dirty-diesels-say-scientists.html
Here is the actual citation of that paper :
“Victor R.J.H. Timmers, Peter A.J. Achten (2016) “Non-exhaust PM emissions from electric vehicles,” Atmospheric Environment, Volume 134, Pages 10-17, doi:”
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223101630187X
Good luck in finding a full transcript though.
Many eco-loon websites are raging at this
revelation, that their precious eco-hybrid may
cause more damage to the planet than it prevents.
“their precious eco-hybrid may cause more damage to the planet than it prevents.”
The majority of “green” voters tend to be wealthy individuals in the public sector with very little understanding of science and none of engineering. They vote green and buy “green” because they feel guilty about their incredibly wealth – usually as they lie down on some beech somewhere on other side of world.
But being gullible idiots, they seriously think that a very small “gesture” like buying a hybrid or voting for a green party somehow offsets their own huge impact on the environment.
So, don’t think for one second they understand at all about “particulates”. All that matters to them is that they are “doing good” – and that they somehow believe that driving a hybrid allows them to fly off to the other side of the world and feel righteous. (Far far far more energy is used in flight than the puny amount that might be “saved” – indeed, hybrids more than likely use more energy than conventional cars over a lifetime.)