Electric vehicles have been an integral part of the plan to usher in a greener future for the United States despite mixed opinions on the cars.
A new study from Californian University suggests the adoption of EVs has already begun to show promising effects, such as cleaner air in cities and drastically reducing the level of CO2.
California Pledges to Become the First State to Ban Gas-Powered Vehicles
Back in 2022, California regulators announced their plans to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035 in an attempt to transition to electric cars, per The New York Times.
While the move was initially considered controversial due to various factors, such as the price of electric vehicles, it was deemed necessary if the state wanted to achieve a greener future.
Berkeley Researchers Release New Data
Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, finally believe they have enough evidence to prove that California’s switch to electric vehicles can reduce the level of CO2 emissions in the city.
In a recent report, they claim that CO2 emissions in the San Francisco Bay Area dropped 1.8% year-on-year between 2018 and 2022.
The CO2 Decreases Linked to Electric Vehicles
According to the researchers who published the report in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the decrease in CO2 is directly related to the increase in EVs.
California continues to see a rise in the adoption of electric vehicles. In 2023, nearly 35% of new auto registrations in San Francisco were EVs.
Network of Sensors in San Francisco
The researchers sourced their data from an extensive CO2 monitoring network set up by Ronald Cohen, an atmospheric chemist from the University of California, Berkeley.
Over 50 sensors designed to monitor CO2 levels and air pollution are operational in the San Francisco Bay area.
Varying Sources of Pollution
The sensors aim to identify various emission sources and give scientists a better understanding of what affects the air in a city.
“Different sources of combustion have different ratios of air pollutants to CO2,” he says.
Tracking the Pollution of Vehicles
The tracking system is advanced enough to track the different pollutants released by various vehicles.
For example, larger trucks will pollute the air with a lot of nitrogen oxide, whereas smaller cars emit little to nothing of this. In comparison, regular vehicles emit a lot of carbon dioxide, whereas trucks don’t.
Researchers Divide the Emissions Into Several Groups
Researchers studying the data provided by the sensors have divided the emissions into three categories.
The first group includes emissions from industries such as refineries. The second group includes seasonal emissions such as home heating and, finally, those associated with traffic.
Traffic Pollution Is Slowly Declining in California
By dividing the emissions into several categories, researchers can focus on an individual group and see how much of an effect it has on the environment.
According to the report, the pollution released by the traffic group has been slowly decreasing over the past five years.
EVs Begin to Lower CO2 Levels in San Francisco
Cohen believes there is enough data to suggest the traffic category has decreased due to the increase in electric and hybrid vehicles in recent years.
“It’s a consistent story to say the drop we’re seeing is associated with both the increase in EVs and more fuel-efficient cars,” he said.
The Adoption of EVs Is Working in California
Cohen continued by suggesting the data provided by the sensors is proof that the adoption of electric vehicles is working to reduce the level of CO2 in San Francisco.
“We show from atmospheric measurements that adoption of electric vehicles is working, that it’s having the intended effect on CO2 emissions,” Cohen said.
Plans for the Future in California
Cohen then suggested that if the state continues on the right track, it will achieve their goal of reducing the level of CO2 in the next two decades.
“We’re at 1.8% per year today. To get to the state’s goal, we would need 3.7%,” Cohen added. “So it’s not crazy higher than where we are; we’re almost half of the way to that goal. But we have to sustain that for another 20 years.”
