Pollution by Chinese electric cars greater than by gasoline cars: Study

Washington, Feb 14(ANI): Chinese electric cars have a disastrous impact on pollution that could be more harmful to health than gasoline vehicles, a new study has found.

The University of Tennessee study found that electric cars cause more particulate matter pollution than gasoline cars.

"An implicit assumption has been that air quality and health impacts are lower for electric vehicles than for conventional vehicles. Our findings challenge that by comparing what is emitted by vehicle use to what people are actually exposed to. Prior studies have only examined environmental impacts by comparing emission factors or greenhouse gas emissions," civil and environmental engineering professor, Chris Cherry, said.

"The study emphasizes that electric vehicles are attractive if they are powered by a clean energy source. In China and elsewhere, it is important to focus on deploying electric vehicles in cities with cleaner electricity generation and focusing on improving emissions controls in higher polluting power sectors," he added.

The researchers estimated health impacts in China using overall emission data and emission rates for five vehicle types-gasoline and diesel cars, diesel buses, e-bikes and e-cars, and calculated the proportion of emissions inhaled by the population.

The findings have been published in the journal, Environmental Science and Technology. (ANI)