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Study: EVs Could Save $13 Billion in Health Costs by 2030

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Due to a combination of unusual weather patterns causing record smog in major cities across the world, increasingly stringent CAFE regulations, and VW’s diesel cheating scandal, one of the largest buzzwords in automotive news has been “emissions”. Multiple studies have shown that emissions from vehicles can cause a host of health issues, from lung problems to bad skin. Besides the health effects, heightened levels of emissions lead to high health costs.

Now, a new study from the American Lung Association in California has sought to figure out just how much that cost would decrease, should those vehicle emissions go away.

The study found that in 2015, the costs on residents in the 10 selected states for health problems related to emissions was $24 billion. The 10 states were Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont–in other words, the “Zero-Emission Vehicle” states that adopted California’s strict emissions limits.

According to the study, that cost took into account estimated losses from 220,000 days off of work, 109,000 aggravated cases of asthma, “hundreds of thousands” of other assorted respiratory health impacts, and 2,580 premature deaths. On the other side, the study also took into account estimations of emissions related to electricity generation, assuming a fossil-fuel heavy mix, with a single generic grid profile applied to all states (apparently limited resources prevented the researchers from making more individualized grid profiles, according to policy manager for the American Lung Association in California William Barrett).

The study suggested that these costs could be drastically reduced through mass EV adoption. Under the study’s most optimistic scenario, where all new-car sales and 65% of all cars on the roads in the 10 states are zero-emissions vehicles by 2050, then EVs could save $13 billion in health costs annually by 2030, and $21 billion a year by 2050. The health benefits would be improved if more fossil-fuel energy generation were replaced by renewable sources.

News Source: Green Car Reports