Quebec and Canada are betting big on the electrification of transportation to achieve their climate targets. However, if these vehicles emit less carbon dioxide than their thermal engine counterparts, they are not free from all atmospheric pollution, reveals a comparative study just published by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME).
In addition to carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX), gasoline or diesel vehicles also produce fine particles, which contribute in particular to the formation of urban smog and whose absorption can cause various serious illnesses in humans.
The tightening of anti-pollution regulations in recent years, both in North America and in Europe, has led to the installation by manufacturers of increasingly efficient emission filters in order to eliminate the particles produced by combustion engines. . Result: more than half of the fine particles emitted by road vehicles at present no longer come from the exhaust, but from the wear of other elements – brakes, tires, the road -, notes the ‘ADEME.
The “other” car pollution
In a report published at the end of April, the agency indicates that “recent studies do not show a significant difference in total particulate emissions between long-range electric vehicles and current new thermal vehicles, which emit almost no more exhaust particulates.
In Europe, warns ADEME, “non-exhaust particles emitted by braking systems, tires or roads have become largely predominant compared to exhaust emissions from petrol and diesel vehicles equipped with a particulate filter. They would correspond to more than half of the particles generated by road traffic”.
This trend will increase and overall particulate emissions will no longer fall if no regulations on brake or tire particulate emissions are put in place, adds the French agency.
As for the impact that electric vehicles will have on this trend, she pointed out that, since these vehicles are generally heavier and that they use wider tires, one cannot count on the reductions in emissions that causes regenerative braking, which slows the vehicle using the engine rather than the brakes.
If electric vehicles promise to eliminate GHG emissions from combustion engines, this is not the case for fine particles outside the exhaust, therefore concludes ADEME, and these will continue to affect the health of humans, soils and waterways. “The long-term effects on ecosystems are poorly documented and the accumulation of this pollution in the food chain raises questions.”
In France, for example, the Energy Transition Agency recommends that the government regulate braking systems and tires more strictly in order to reduce fine particle emissions.
A weight problem
At home, discouraging the purchase of ever larger vehicles would be a first step in the right direction, thinks the Équiterre organization.
The example of the all-new GMC Hummer EV from General Motors is eloquent: this huge electric SUV weighs no less than 4110 kilos, almost four times the average weight of a gasoline sedan (around 1100 kilos). The American manufacturer says it has received 65,000 pre-orders for this juggernaut.
In its advertisements, GM presents its Hummer as a vehicle for nature-loving adventurers. “It makes no sense to associate this vehicle with nature,” laments Andréanne Brazeau, mobility analyst for Équiterre. “Electric vehicles like this are not sober, neither energetically nor in terms of materials. Governments rely on electrification to achieve their climate targets, but they forget to focus on the weight and dimensions of vehicles.
Équiterre has been attacking car advertising for several months, which the organization considers misleading. In these pubs, we often make the shortcut that the bigger it is, the safer a vehicle will be. “We especially praise the safety of the people on board”, observes Mme Brazeau. The fact that SUVs are also heavier and require longer braking distances is obviously never mentioned.
To try to break this cycle, Équiterre intends to launch an advertising campaign on Monday that it hopes will be “provocative” enough to make people react. Its theme: “no SUV for me”, reveals Andréanne Brazeau.
Équiterre thus hopes to raise public awareness of the criteria to consider when purchasing a vehicle. The organization also wants to reflect on the very need to buy a vehicle. “For people in the suburbs, maybe it’s better to have only one rather than two, and in the city, maybe carsharing is a better solution”, illustrates Mme Brazeau. Because, at the end of the day, the best solution to solve the question of automobile pollution is to reduce their number on the roads.
Their number. Then their weight. And their polluting emissions, in all their forms. Because, according to studies, electrification alone will not be enough.