Switching to EVS can save billions

About US$70 billion may be saved in the US alone in social and health costs from fossil fuel light vehicle pollution if three in four cars were EVs.

That’s according to an Illinois’ Northwestern University study led by Daniel Peters, published in GeoHealth, which says even if one in four cars in the US fleet switch to electric it will save about US$17b.

“Vehicle electrification in the United States could prevent hundreds to thousands of premature deaths annually while reducing carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons,” Peters says, The Driven.io

reports.

Researchers note that along with climate changing carbon dioxide “combustion engines also produce other harmful pollutants, such as particulate matter and the precursors to ground-level ozone”.

The report deals only with light duty passenger transport as this accounts for about 60% of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions in the US.

The findings support many other studies and statements around health benefits from transitioning to EVs, including those from the Electric Vehicle Council Australia along with the Better NZ Trust and Drive Electric in New Zealand.