In the effort to combat climate change, a move away from fossil fuels, particularly when it comes to the way get around, is seen as one of the critical steps to making progress.

Electric vehicles, or EVs, in particular are seen as the next step in the evolution away from fossil fuels. The idea of an electric vehicle isn’t new—the idea is nearly 200 years old, and the first mass-produced EVs were built in the early 1900s. But only in the past two decades has the effort to transition from gas to electric vehicles gathered momentum. And the effort has come with hurdles. Battery capacity can limit range, there are environmental concerns to be addressed, and simply getting people to accept a different model of vehicle is a challenge.

Recently, President Joe Biden and the Environmental Protection Agency finalized regulations that have created the United States’ toughest limits on passenger car and light truck emissions ever. The regulations are designed to accelerate the transition to EVs, even if automakers won’t need to dramatically boost EVs sales until after 2030.

Meanwhile, Emissions Analytics, a United Kingdom-based company that compiles large databases of independent test data to give market insights and delivers unbiased test results on real-world product performance, recently released a report showing that, due to the weight of EVs, tire wear emissions are 1,850 times greater than tailpipe particulate emissions from gas cars.
In other words, EVs may have lower particulate emissions when it comes to fuel emissions, but it could have a larger impact in other ways.

Finding a way to balance the pros with the cons—and, more importantly, convincing reluctant consumers to make the transition to EVs—is part of challenge of adopting a different technology that is so embedded in our culture. 

We’re joined today by Professor John Graham, who has long been focused on risk analysis. He is the former Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the federal Office of Management and Budget during the George W. Bush administration. Professor Graham also served as Dean of the O’Neill School from 2008-2019, and he has remained as a faculty member with a keen interest in electric vehicles.

O’Neill Speaks is the official podcast of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. All opinions and comments on O’Neill Speaks belong to the host and guest of the O’Neill School and don’t necessarily reflect those of the school itself. Music for O’Neill Speaks is by Manos Mars.