Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have conducted the first study using real-world data to link the impact of electric vehicles on air pollution and health. The study leveraged publicly available datasets to analyze the effect of California residents rapidly adopting electric vehicles (ZEVs) as a “natural experiment.”
This study provides actual evidence for the dual benefits of electric vehicles in reducing air pollution and improving health, previously only hypothetically hailed as a way to mitigate climate change through reduced emissions.
Cleaner air
The researchers compared data on electric vehicle registration, air pollution, and asthma-related emergency room visits across California from 2013 to 2019. They found that as electric vehicle adoption increased within a zip code, local air pollution decreased and emergency room visits for asthma-related issues also dropped.
“When we think about the actions related to climate change, often it’s on a global level,” the researchers explain. “But the idea that changes being made at the local level can improve the health of your own community could be a powerful message to the public and to policymakers.”
The study revealed an “adoption gap,” with slower electric vehicle adoption in low-resource zip codes. This disparity highlights the opportunity to address environmental injustice in communities that disproportionately suffer from pollution and its associated health problems.
“The impacts of climate change on health can be challenging to talk about because they can feel very scary,” the authors explain. “We’re excited about shifting the conversation towards climate change mitigation and adaptation, and these results suggest that transitioning to ZEVs is a key piece of that.”
Health and climate impact
The research team analyzed four datasets to study the effects of electric vehicle adoption. They obtained data on electric vehicles (battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell cars) from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, air pollution levels from the US Environmental Protection Agency, and asthma-related emergency room visits. They also calculated the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree in each zip code to serve as an indicator of a neighborhood’s socioeconomic status.
The study found that for every 20 additional electric vehicles per 1,000 people in a zip code, there was a 3.2% decrease in asthma-related emergency room visits and a small reduction in nitrogen dioxide levels. Across California, the number of electric vehicles per 1,000 people increased from 1.4 to 14.6 between 2013 and 2019, with slower adoption in zip codes with lower levels of education.
This research supports the idea that underserved communities, such as low-income neighborhoods, could benefit greatly from increased electric vehicle adoption, as they often experience worse pollution and associated respiratory problems than more affluent areas.
“Should continuing research support our findings, we want to make sure that those communities that are overburdened with the traffic-related air pollution are truly benefiting from this climate mitigation effort,” the researchers conclude.
