Need Another Reason to Go Electric? Dump the Pump for Better Health Outcomes
Our nation’s reliance on fossil fuels has impacted our economic, political, and environmental health for decades. It also impacts the physical health of all our neighbors. The New York Times created an interactive tool to help visualize air pollution, which compares regional air quality around the U.S. and the rest of the world. May is National Asthma Awareness month, so we're taking a deeper look at why electrifying our transportation sector is critical to lung health and more.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitors levels of five major pollutants contributing to air pollution, including ground-level ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide. These are components of what is published as the Air Quality Index (AQI); anything above an AQI score of 100 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, and scores above 150 are unhealthy for everyone.
According to the 2024 State of the Air report by the American Lung Association (ALA), 39% of people in America – 131.2 million people – live in a community with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, which is directly related to serious health conditions including:
Respiratory issues like wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and asthma attacks
Impaired cognitive functioning
Susceptibility to infections
Metabolic disorders
Premature births and low birth weights
Lung cancer
Heart attack
Stroke
Premature death
According to the EPA, passenger cars, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, and light-duty trucks account for over half of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the transportation sector in the U.S. due to the combustion of gasoline and diesel fuel internal combustion engines (ICE). Overall, fossil fuel-powered vehicles are the largest contributor of GHG emissions in the U.S., which significantly contributes to unhealthy air quality.
Communities of color and low-income neighborhoods are disproportionately impacted by poor air quality because pollution sources like highways, shipping ports, and railways are more often located near these communities. People of color are 2.3 times more likely to live in a county with three failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.1 All of us benefit from the shift to zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs), but especially those who have spent years dealing with inequitable health outcomes.
A 2023 report by the ALA asserts that a shift to 100% sales of new passenger ZEVs and clean, non-combustion electricity generation by 2050 could lead to $978 billion in cumulative public health benefits. These benefits include 89,300 fewer premature deaths, 2.2 million fewer asthma attacks and 10.7 million fewer lost workdays by 2050. And all of that is beyond the savings individuals can realize by ditching trips to the gas station.
In a recent Bay Area study from UC Berkeley, researchers found a direct correlation between the rise in EV adoption and the decrease in emissions. The report provides concrete evidence of the power of consumers switching from ICE vehicles to EVs in the region with the highest rate of EV adoption in the country. It serves as an example for what is possible when we all participate in the ZEV transition.
If you’re currently driving a ZEV, you’re already doing your part to support the shift to healthier air quality for all. If transitioning to a ZEV is not yet feasible for you, you can still help reduce toxic air pollution by walking, biking, or taking public transit whenever possible, and by taking fewer and efficiently planned trips or using eco-mode (if available) when driving your ICE vehicle. If you’re using rideshare to get where you need to go, choose Uber Green or Lyft Green mode!
You can also support pollution-reducing investments and local, state, and federal policies designed to address air pollution, accelerate EV adoption, and enhance public transportation.
For ZEV drivers, one more step you can take to increase the air quality benefits of driving electric is to sign up with EVgo and charge with us. For every kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumed on our network, we purchase a corresponding kWh renewable energy credit (REC) from an accredited REC supplier. This National Asthma Awareness month, join us in making that cleaner, healthier future a reality even sooner than 2050!
1 https://www.lung.org/getmedia/dabac59e-963b-4e9b-bf0f-73615b07bfd8/State-of-the-Air-2024.pdf