Electric cars are getting cheaper, more efficient, and have longer ranges than ever. And while price and charging infrastructure continue to be the main barriers, this market is growing faster than expected: in 2019, electric vehicles accounted for only 1% of global new-car sales. By 2025, that figure had risen to 25%, and of the 1.4 billion cars on the world’s roads, 85 million are electric.
This has translated into a reduction in direct emissions that can be observed from space.
Result: more electric cars means less atmospheric pollution
Through an observational study published in The Lancet Planetary Health, researchers wanted to determine whether the reductions in tailpipe emissions resulting from the shift to zero-emission vehicles could be detected through satellite measurements of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) pollution. The research was conducted between 2019 and 2023 in California, USA, across 1,692 neighborhoods.
What was the result? The researchers were able to show that there existed an association between the rise in zero-emission vehicle registrations within climate-concentration zones and reductions in NO₂ atmospheric pollution. They did this via satellites and replicated with ground monitors.
According to the study, NO₂ levels fell by 1.1%. It isn’t a very striking figure, but it’s worth noting that sales of these vehicles in the area where the data were collected hardly rose from 2% to 5% during this period.
Moreover, it is the first time a study, backed by data, links an improvement in air quality to the rise of plug-in cars on the streets, specifically in the 1,692 neighborhoods where NO₂ levels were measured over five years (the study period).
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