Electric vehicles produce airborne particles from tire and brake wear, and charging them at DC fast chargers contributes additional pollution. Measurements show that the air quality around fast chargers has twice the fine particulate matter compared to common urban levels. A study at UCLA found that particulate levels range from 7.3 to 39 micrograms per cubic meter near chargers, which is significantly higher than the typical 3.6 to 12.4 micrograms found in urban California. The cooling fans of the chargers are suspected to stir up existing pollutants from the environment, rather than emitting pollutants from the chargers themselves.
There's no healthy amount of fine particulate matter to breathe, and the amount around fast chargers for electric vehicles is about twice as high as background levels of PM 2.5.
We tested 50 fast chargers across LA and found higher particle levels near their power cabinets, with even higher levels of metal tracers from brake and tire particles.
Collection
[
|
...
]