Recent reports from state government agencies show that New York and California are reaping the benefits of aggressively adopting electric vehicles (EV), with cleaner air and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently released a report showing that EVs helped cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 9.3 million metric tons in 2022, when compared to the prior year, or by about 2.4% – the equivalent of removing 2.2 million gas powered cars from California’s roads in one year.
In New York City, the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) announced in Sept. that the city’s increasingly electric taxi fleet is helping reduce CO2 emissions. So far in 2024, electric Ubers, Lyfts and other app-hailing services that have adopted EVs accounted for 14 million zero-emissions trips, helping the city save 19,000 metric tons of CO2, the TLC said. Those are the average annual emissions of nearly 3,800 homes, according to the TLC.
In recent years, a number of new charging stations have opened, and more are on the way. The TLC said the number of fast chargers in the city increased from 169 to 236 as of June 2024, a 40% increase. Plus, 180 fast-charging plugs have been announced to go online over the next two years.
The U.S. remains sharply divided over EVs, driven by several factors – one being the myth that EVs pollute as much – or more – than gas cars due to their reliance on non-renewable electricity sources and the environmental impact of mining battery materials. While those are real issues that need addressing, there’s a broad scientific consensus that EVs significantly reduce pollution compared to gas cars.
Source: Inside EVs
