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EVs are much heavier than ICE vehicles. The extra weight leads to much greater wear on tires per mile of travel. This leads to a substantial increase in tire
by testfoobar 3y ago
EVs are much heavier than ICE vehicles. The extra weight leads to much greater wear on tires per mile of travel. This leads to a substantial increase in tire dust - a significant pollutant.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/07/electric-vehicles-tires-wearing-out-particulates/674750/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/07/elect...
- jemmyw 3y agoIt'd be good to see some numbers because that article is pretty vague on where the fault lies. A Tesla 3 is about the same weight as my Ford Mondeo, same shape car. The article points out that (a) Americans buy larger cars than are perhaps necessary and (b) it's the acceleration that causes an issue too. Nowhere is it saying how much worse the problem is. I would say this is a low quality article.
- natch 3y agoBut not brake dust.
- dymk 3y agoThis "point" gets parroted everywhere EVs come up, but the proof is basically nonexistant or misleading at best.
- cantaloupe 3y agoThat’s not really supported by evidence. Among other points against, tire dust scales linearly with weight and EVs are only about 20% heavier then comparable ICEs (e.g. model 3 vs Camry). That’s not even accounting for regenerative braking. https://dynomight.net/tires/ https://dynomight.net/tires/
- jjav 3y ago> That’s not even accounting for regenerative braking. That has no relation to tire wear rubber dust. It's not controversial that a heavier car that accelerates faster will wear out tires much faster (thus generate more rubber particles into the air). Sure, EVs generate way less brake pad dust. But that's a tiny contribution to pollution. Brake pads are tiny compared to tires and in over 100K I've yet to wear out the brake pads on my ICE minivan but I've changed tires three times.
- belltaco 3y ago10% to 20% more tire dust but none of the dozens of pollutants from burning toxic chemicals at a high temperature. Not to mention greenhouse gases like CO2 etc. Its not even close.
- jjav 3y agoTrue, but the thread was about pollution from brakes and tire wear. Not talking about engines.
- pornel 3y ago"Much more" is misleading. The difference is usually 10%-20%, less than weight variance among gas cars. Tesla Model 3 weighs about the same as an ICE Ford Mustang. Tire particles are relatively heavy and don't stay in the air, unlike smaller molecules and emission from combustion. If weight was a real concern, non-business pickup trucks and large SUVs should be banned regardless of the engine they use.