The push towards electrifying vehicles around the global has become an increasingly pressing topic, particularly as the threat of climate changes increases on a seemingly-daily basis. Some estimates suggest that as much as 18% of all vehicles sold in 2023 will be electric vehicles, signaling a significant shift is the number of electric vehicles on the road. These vehicles promise to cut harmful CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change.
But when we thing of electrifying vehicles, we often think of smaller passenger-size vehicles. But what about larger and heavier vehicles, such as larger freight vehicles, buses, or garbage trucks? What would happen if there were more electric versions of these vehicles on the road?
According to research conducted by a team at Northwestern University and published in Nature Sustainability, the result would be life-saving, without needed to electrifying a large number of heavy-weight vehicles.
Specifically, researchers modeled what would happen if heavier freight vehicles in the Chicago area, one of the largest freight centers in the United States, were replaced with electric versions. As part of their model, researchers conducted air quality tests in the Chicago area to establish a baseline before making any additional modifications. The team also used American Community Survey and Industrial Economics to pull data related to demographics to build their model.
Once a baseline was established, researchers then examined how cutting emissions from larger heavy-weight vehicles (representing a shift towards electric vehicles) as well as the emissions form powerplants to power these new electric vehicles, would affect air quality in the region.
The results were life changing.
That is, pollution would go down significantly in these areas, with researchers estimating that net CO2 emissions would reduce by about 2.76 million tons per year. And that’s accounting for a reliance on an electrical grid that still pulls power from fossil fuels. Researchers also estimated that nearly 600 premature deaths would be prevented. These health benefits would be mostly felt in Black, Hispanic, and Latinx communities, which shoulder a disproportionate health risk from pollution in these heavy metropolitan areas.
Sources: Science Daily; IEA; Nature Sustainability