EVs in California
The op-ed highlighted California’s plan to prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. It argued that while the initiative aims to mitigate public health risks from particulate matter, eliminating gasoline cars “would do little to reduce particulate emissions” and could even increase them.
The authors emphasized that vehicles contribute merely about 1% to California’s total direct fine particulate matter emissions, with a significant portion originating from older models, as per the Environmental Protection Agency.
Furthermore, the op-ed critiqued California’s portrayal of particulate emissions, accusing it of speaking “as if their primary source” were the tailpipe. The authors referenced the Emission Analytics study, which says that most vehicle-related particulate matter actually stems from tire wear.
“[EVs] have greater tire wear, the source of most particulate matter. California is trying to conceal that fact,” the authors wrote.
They also challenged California’s designation of EVs as “zero emission vehicles,” labeling it as “deceptive.”
“Generating the electricity that powers those cars creates particulate pollution, and of course electric cars still use tires, which are made from petroleum,” the authors explained, adding that EVs “weigh far more than gasoline-powered ones, so their tires degrade faster.”
They noted that the California Air Resources Board used a model that assumes equal tire wear between EVs and gasoline-powered vehicles in evaluating the ban’s impact. They highlighted that, in reality, EVs are substantially heavier because “batteries store far less energy per pound than liquid fuels,” resulting in 15% to 30% greater weight.
Despite this critique, EV adoption in California is well underway — even without the ban on gasoline-powered vehicles. In 2023, 21.4% of new cars sold in California were powered by a battery, according to the California New Car Dealers Association, indicating that California's EV market share surpasses that of the rest of the country by threefold.
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