Electric vehicles are not free of greenhouse gas emissions over their entire lifespan. However, they have the potential to improve the health of many people, especially younger people.
We know that the pollution emitted by combustion engines does not only affect the climate: it also has an impact on the health of their users and other pedestrians, potentially causing thousands of premature deaths each year in France alone.
So, at a time when sales of electric cars are increasing, we can wonder to what extent our daily lives and our life expectancy will be improved. Fortunately, a study has already given us some fairly evocative figures.
Fresh air for the lungs
Rather concerned with the subject of respiratory diseases, the American Lung Association has written a new report on the impact of the democratization of electric vehicles on children’s health. According to its president, Laura Kate Bender, the subject is important, because the bodies of young people are developing “ at a different pace than adults “.
“ They are more exposed to air pollution because their lungs are still developing », she adds. In the United States alone, electrification of the automobile fleet could prevent 2.7 million asthma attacks in children by 2050, as well as 147,000 cases of acute bronchitis.
In total, the country could avoid 2.67 million cases of upper respiratory symptoms and 1.87 million cases of lower respiratory symptoms in this population group during the same period. A clear improvement in the quality of life which would be accompanied by a reduction of 508 cases of infant mortality.
Clean up not only emissions from cars, but also those from the electricity network
Although the report is based on a hypothetical model focused solely on the United States, its findings provide insight into the benefits electric vehicles could have beyond the environment. At least, if we only take into account the direct pollution that they do not cause when they are on the road.
The figures put forward by the association, however, require an end to sales of combustion vehicles by 2035, as well as a transition to less carbon-intensive electricity production. “ We consider the two to be inseparable », insists Laura Kate Bender. “ This is how we will achieve the best possible health outcomes. »
For the president of the American Lung Association, this report must above all serve as a signal, at a time when the automobile sector is putting pressure on the American government to slow down the transition to electric cars. According to her, everything is not binary, and benefits for the health of the youngest could also be obtained “ even if manufacturers continue to produce gasoline vehicles “. Thanks to even stricter pollution regulations, for example, which is not a foregone conclusion in Europe.
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