Electric vehicles’ “fast” chargers are not so fast as some people seem to assume. It can depend on the car, and, of the course, the weather, but, according to the Department of Transportation, it can take “just 20 minutes to 1 hour” to charge an EV to 80 percent.
“Just.”
But it appears that they are not so clean as some might hope, either. According to the authors of a recent study, they are a source of air pollution.
The emissions are likely tied to the fans used in direct current fast chargers’ power cabinets. While they help keep equipment cool, the recent study indicates they likely have the unintended side effect of kicking up particles from tires, brakes and dust into the air.
Researchers took air quality measurements at 50 direct current fast charging stations in Los Angeles County, California. . . . The average concentration of fine particulate matter in the air at the charging sites was 15.2 micrograms per cubic meter, slightly higher than what researchers found at gas stations. . . . Nearly half of the charging sites had daily fine particulate matter emissions that exceeded the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines. . . .
EV charging companies can include filtration in charging cabinets to mitigate pollution, the study’s authors said. They can also avoid putting the chargers near places like schools and residential areas.
Keen to remain on message, the authors of the Bloomberg report stress that “gas-powered cars are still a much more potent health risk, both because of their emissions and gas stations’ environmental impact,” but the new study is yet another reminder that EVs are not quite the “clean cars” they are so often made out to be, which is one reason why, to a number of environmentalists, the phasing out of “conventional” cars is only one stage on the route to a more drastic reduction in the number of cars on the road.