Science & technology | Well informed

Electric vehicles also cause air pollution

Though fume-free, their brake pads and tyres disintegrate over time

An illustration of an electric car flatening the world and creating loads of fumes.
Illustration: Cristina Spanò
|3 min read

PEOPLE ARE dying for clean air. According to the most recent estimates from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, air pollution caused 4.7m early deaths worldwide in 2021—about the same as dementia, road-traffic accidents, malaria and suicides combined.

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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “How dirty are electric vehicles?”

From the April 19th 2025 edition

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