Another way electric cars clean the air: study says brake dust reduced by 83%
A new study is out which quantifies just how much EVs help not just in cutting harmful exhaust emissions, but also cutting other types of pollution that come from personal vehicles. But of course, public transport, biking and walking are even better.
We’ve seen plenty of studies showing how the benefits of shifting to EVs translate to the real world, for example in California and London, where higher EV shares and regulations aimed at cutting down the excesses of polluting vehicles have produced significant air quality benefits already.
As it has become more and more untenable for anti-EV propagandists to deny the air quality benefits of EVs, a common refrain from them has become “but tailpipe emissions aren’t everything, what about brakes and tires, huh?!”
Putting aside for the moment the clear concern trolling involved in this response, it’s always been easy enough to point to regenerative braking as a reason that EVs improve that problem too – since they rarely use the brakes, they obviously wouldn’t emit as many brake particles.
But now we have proper quantification of that, and not only is the reduction in brake dust from battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) quite high, its also much higher than the benefit gained from either conventional gas-only hybrids or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).
The analysis looked at various “non-exhaust emissions” of road transport, recognizing that as car exhaust becomes cleaner due to greater fleet electrification, other forms of emissions will end up taking over as the dominant pollutants from road transport.
It turns out that BEVs reduce the amount of brake dust by 83%, according to a new analysis by EIT Urban Mobility (a body of the European Union) and Transport for London. The study looked primarily at London, Milan and Barcelona.
The primary reason for this is the use of regenerative braking, meaning that electric vehicles can slow down without rubbing friction brakes. Other vehicles that use regenerative braking reduced brake emissions too, with Hybrids reducing them by 10-48%, and PHEVs by 66%.
Other forms of non-exhaust emissions also analyzed
The analysis looked at other forms of pollution as well, from tire and road wear.
On tire wear, the study assumed that BEVs would be responsible for more tire wear due to their greater weight. The study claims that BEVs are about 20% heavier than gas cars – though much of this is attributable to a vehicle mix that is more focused on larger vehicles, as it seems like every EV manufacturer is making huge SUVs and few are making small cars (a trend that can be seen in gas cars as well, which are 21% heavier than they were 20 years ago, and new EVs are more highly represented at the culmination of this trend).
When looking side-by-side at the best purpose-built EVs and their gas-powered counterparts, such as the Tesla Model 3 and the BMW 3 series, there is little difference in weight (the Tesla is only about ~200lbs heavier, across the model line, a difference of about 5%, not 20%).
Despite the slightly higher levels of tire wear from EVs, brake dust was found to be more unhealthy, as brake dust is much more likely to become airborne (>40%) than tire wear is (1-5%). So EVs create a lot less of the worse thing, and a little more of the less-bad thing.
Even using the study’s 20% number for EV. vs. gas car weight, this doesn’t handicap EVs much. BEVs produce 38% less total brake, road and tire wear combined, without even taking into account their exhaust benefits.
The analysis includes an interactive modeling tool where you can examine different types of transport and the amount of emissions they produce, with electric models being the clear winner out of the various analyzed powertrains.
We plugged in a few numbers and taking into account every form of emissions – brakes, tires, road wear and exhaust – electric cars even fared nearly as well as gas-powered motorcycles. While an individual EV does still produce 57% more total emissions than a gas-powered motorcycle per mile, as long as that car has higher occupancy than the motorcycle, that means it could fare better in terms of emissions per person-mile.
Shifting away from private cars is even better
The mention of person-miles brings up another answer for these problems: “mode shifting,” or moving drivers from cars to other methods of transport.
Buses and other heavy vehicles are accounted for in the tool, and they’ve got bigger numbers, but that doesn’t actually mean they’re dirtier.
While buses are obviously responsible for more emissions than cars individually, once you take into account the number of people they carry, that number plummets significantly. Buses may be responsible for ~4-5 times as many non-exhaust emissions as cars per mile, but a bus can hold an order of magnitude more people than a car can, reducing both emissions and traffic congestion.
And, just as was the case with electric cars, electric buses perform significantly better in terms of total emissions than gas buses do.
Beyond that, you get down to the absolute best answers: walking and biking. These two methods produce negligible environmental impact, and the study recommends that cities focus on encouraging these forms of transport wherever possible.
Luckily, we here at Electrek also love to cover electric bikes, which are a great way to get around that still offers the health and environmental benefits of cycling, but reduce the annoyances you might get from hills or windy days.
Study recommendations
Taking all this information together, the study makes some recommendations. It obviously points out that fleet electrification will be beneficial in reducing non-exhaust emissions, and suggests that that should continue rapidly.
However, it also points out that the total reduction in non-exhaust emissions from shifting drivers to public transport, rather than individual vehicles, can be 5x higher than just electrifying the vehicle fleet alone. So shifting drivers to using public transport should be prioritized when possible. Or, getting people to walk or bike instead.
For those vehicles that do remain on the road, lower-wear products can be encouraged, like carbon composite brake discs or those coated with hard metal coatings. Similarly, some tires are more wear-resistant than others, and there is little regulation forcing focus on lower-wear tire technologies.
Governments should also work to reverse ballooning vehicle sizes and higher SUV share for private vehicles (where have we heard that before…).
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For more than 30 years, John Deere’s go-anywhere Gator has been a trusted tool for ranchers, landscapers, and hobby farmers. But the all-electric TE 4×2 version of Big Green’s little truckster rarely gets to steal the spotlight from its ICE-powered 6×4 cousins.
We’re going to change that.
Unlike some of those other UTV brands that just recently entered the electric vehicle game, John Deere introduced its first all-electric Gator way back in 1998.
That OG E-Gator was designed from the ground up for quiet work in places like golf courses, university and hospital campuses, luxury resorts, and corporate grounds – but its go-anywhere design and quiet running made it a favorite of hunters and ranchers, too. Fitted with eight heavy, 12V lead-acid batteries, the ’98 Gator could deliver 6 hours of runtime between overnight charges.
We haven’t come a long way, baby
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That seems to be the mentality at Deere when it comes to the all-electric Gator. The TE 4×2 hasn’t chased trends or tried to reinvent itself with flashy autonomous tech. Instead, it’s relied solid, work-horsey reasons. Instead, the UTV has leaned on the formula that’s made it a winner for more than 25 years: bulletproof reliability, low maintenance, and a design that just works. Even the added weight of the low-tech batteries compared to more energy-dense li-ion deals makes sense in this application, providing weight over the drive wheels that delivers sure-footed traction on slippery grass or muddy trails.
That’s not to say the Gator hasn’t changed at all over the last few decades. The electrical system has been upgraded to 48V, and its high-capacity, deep-cycle batteries (12 kWh total capacity) give the TE 4×2 dependable, all-day runtime (up to 8 continuous hours) with the benefit of modern chargers, regenerative braking (!), and updated safety features.
The TE 4×2 electric Gator is available from your local Deere dealer with prices starting at $15,699. And, if you’re looking for an endorsement: my personal Gator is easily my favorite thing … maybe I should try to change my Twitter X handle to “GatorJo”?
Let me know what you think of that idea in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: John Deere.
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I’m going to start this off by immediately begging you not to buy this ridiculous contraption you’ll see in the article below. You’ve been warned. Ok, now feast your eyes on this monstrosity! A $350 e-bike from Alibaba that comes with not just a suspension fork, not just full-suspension, but at least five more shocks than any bike should ever conceivably possess, seemingly randomly sprinkled around the bike’s frame.
Credit goes to my publisher, Seth, for finding this absolute gem. He and I play a little game where we send each other increasingly ridiculous Alibaba finds, trying to one-up the insanity of the other’s previous find. This one is definitely a contender.
Spotted on AliExpress’s platform, the site that makes it dangerously easy to procure the strangest (and sometimes coolest) things from the Far East, this is an e-bike that just keeps on giving.
First of all, check out the suspension. There’s a front suspension fork, which is theoretically standard. There’s also rear suspension, but instead of the single rear shock or occasional dual shocks (one on either side), the designers of this e-bike gave us quad shocks. Then, instead of leaving not-well-enough alone, they decided that a rear swingarm with quad shocks wasn’t enough, and then turned the entire rear half of the e-bike into another swingarm with two more shocks.
At this point, I’m starting to get confused. Do we call the battery sprung or unsprung weight now?
This much suspension is like trying to drink from a firehose, but we’re not even finished. Because if that wasn’t enough springiness for you, there are two more springs in the saddle, technically bringing us up to 10 springs total! A guy hit a speed bump on this e-bike last week, and some say he’s still bouncing.
While I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt, my experience with the cheapest of Alibaba e-bikes tells me that they likely didn’t modify the spring rate of the shocks when they just kept copy/pasting them. That means the bike probably rides stiffer than if it had half the number of shocks (or it just has the proper pre-load for a 600 lb rider).
Unfortunately, the rest of the bike is rather par for the course in terms of cheap direct-from-China electric bicycles. We’ve got our “500 Watt” motor, a surprisingly large 48V 15Ah battery, folding handlebars, a cute little rear kid’s seat complete with grab bar (a nice touch, to be honest), a full twist throttle, fenders, and even a complete lighting package with turn signals.
The 66-lb (30 kg) bike isn’t very light, but each of those shocks adds to the poundage, not to mention all the other doodads we’ve got bolted on around the bike.
The bike still folds in half, which is surprising considering most of the frame is taken up by springs. At first glance, I didn’t even see the folding mechanism hiding there.
It’s a wild specimen, and the free shipping to the US makes the $350 price even more tempting. But please don’t buy something like this (that lead image is AI-generated… I didn’t buy or ride this!). There are some real concerns here. Who knows what kind of quality control or safety certification went into that battery, let alone the frame and other key components?
Let’s just enjoy this one on the screen like most of my Alibaba finds and appreciate that someone out there said, “let’s see how many cheap shocks we can fit on a bike,” and nobody stopped them.
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Can an EV really help power your home when the power goes out? It’s one of the biggest FAQs people have about electric cars — but the answer can be a bit confusing. It’s either a yes, with a but – or a no, with an unless. To find out which EVs can offer vehicle-to-home (V2H) tech to keep the lights on or even lower your energy bills, keep on reading.
Modern EVs have big, efficient batteries capable of storing enough energy to power home for days. That can mean backup power during a storm or the ability to use stored energy during expensive peak hours and recharge again when kilowatts are cheap.
That’s all true – but only in theory. Because, while your EV might have a big battery, that doesn’t mean it has the special hardware and software that allow electricity to safely flow back out of the car baked in. Car companies call this vehicle-to-home (V2H) or bi-directional charging, and only a handful of models currently support it. That’s that, “yes, with a but” asterisk.
Yes, an EV can power your home, but it has to be one of these.
Ford F-150 Lightning
Ford made early headlines using its F-150 Lightning as a life-saving generator during winter ice storms and hurricanes, so it should come as no surprise that it’s included in this list. The best-selling electric truck in America can send up to 9.6 kW of power from its onboard batteries back to the house. More than enough to keep the lights on and the refrigerator running during an outage.
To make it work, you’ll need to install the Charge Station Pro (formerly called Intelligent Backup Power) home charger, the Home Integration System (HIS), which includes an inverter, a transfer switch, and a small battery to switch the system on, as well Ford’s Charge Station Pro 80A bi-directional charger (which comes free with the Extended Range F-150 Lightning, but costs about $1,300 otherwise).
All-in, you’re looking at about $5,000 in hardware, plus installation, to make it work.
Kia EV9
With up to 300 miles of range and ultra-fast charging, the seven-passenger electric SUV from Kia has been a hot seller. And back in March, the Kia EV9 unlocked yet another new feature: vehicle-to-home charging.
When paired with the Quasar 2 bidirectional charger from Wallbox (and the associated Power Recovery Unit, or PRU), a fully-charged Kia EV9 can power a standard suburban home for three days. Longer, still, if you’re keeping the energy use low. The Wallbox Quasar 2 isn’t cheap, though – pricing starts at $6,440 (again, plus installation). For that price, you the PRU plus a wall-mounted 12 kW L2 charger with 12.8 kW of with discharge power on a split-phase system.
Pretty much all the GM EVs
With the exception of the Chevy Brightdrop, GMC Hummer EV, and the hand-built, ultra-luxe Cadillac CELESTIQ, every Ultium-based GM EV can send battery power back to your home through GM Energy’s Ultium Home System – arguably the most fully integrated EV + battery backup + solar option out there outside of Tesla.
GM Energy says its new 19.2 kW Powershift Charger delivers around 6-7% more juice than a typical 11.5 kW L2 charger, delivering up to 51 miles of range per charge hour. Bi-directional charging requires the Powershift Charger to be paired up with a compatible GM EV and the GM Energy V2H Enablement Kit. The full system retails for $12,699, plus installation, and can be financed through GM Financial.
NOTE: some 2024 models might require a software update to enable V2H functionality, which can be done either at the dealer or through an OTA update.
Tesla Cybertruck
Tesla Cybertruck owners may have zero taste, but they have two options when it comes to powering their homes with their trucks. If they already have a Tesla Powerwall, they don’t need anything else. If they don’t, they’ll need to install a Universal Wall Connector charger, a Powershare Gateway, and a Tesla Backup Switch.
That second option will run about $3,500, plus installation.
That rounds off the list of vehicles that ship with V2H software baked in, so if you’re wondering whether or not your EV can be used to power your home, now you know the answer is yes, as long as it’s one of the ones listed above.
But you might remember that I answered the initial question by saying it was either a yes, with a but – or a no, with an unless. So if you want to use your car’s battery as a backup, but don’t have one of the EVs liksted above, that doesn’t mean you’re completely out of luck.
No, with an unless
As some of the earliest and most enthusiastic EV adopters, Tesla fans have also been among the loudest advocates for using the energy stored their cars’ batteries to back up their homes — or even the grid itself. Unfortunately for them, the slow-selling Cybertruck is the only Tesla vehicle that officially supports bi-directional charging. If you’re one of the many Model 3 and Y owners frustrated by those delays, there’s good news: those vehicles are now capable of V2H charging thanks to an “impressive” Powerwall competitor, Sigenergy.
The good news doesn’t stop there, however. The Sigenergy V2X also works with both the popular Kia EV6 and Electrek‘s 2024 EV of the Year, the Volvo EX30 over the DIN70121 protocol, and several VW/Audi/Porsche and Mercedes-Benz EVs over the ISO15118-2 protocol.
Our own Editor-in-Chief, Fred Lambert, recently went on a Sigenergy deep dive with Sylvain Juteau, President of Roulez Electrique, and came away deeply impressed with the system. I’ve included the video, above, and you can read more about the system itself at this link.
And, of course, I look forward to learning about any V2H models or more universal battery backup systems from you, the smartest readers in the blogosphere, in the comments.
Original content from Electrek.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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