Australian researchers have found that tire wear and tear is a major contributor to urban waterway pollution, producing particulate matter that includes microplastics. But, they also found that there are effective ways of reducing this type of pollution, which can affect the health of the…
The problem isn't that electric cars weigh more than ICE cars, it's that people buy absolutely enormous vehicles that are way bigger than they need. The top selling vehicles in the US right now are the Chevy Silverado, the Ford F-series, the Toyota Rav-4. These aren't even cars - they're trucks. Yes, people should drive lighter vehicles. But this was a problem way before EV's. People act like conventional cars don't have tires or something. The fact that this is suddenly considered a pressing issue seems to be more FUD from people who really hate the idea of electric vehicles.
BOTH are problems. Yes people buy vehicles that are too big. But electric vehicles, whether it be trucks or sedans, weigh significantly more than their ICE counterparts. I’m in favor of EVs over ICEs, but the bigger solution is not just “more of another type of car”. We also need a world with fewer cars.
I wonder if there's any data on how much bus tires pollute in this way on a per-passenger mile basis. I'm sure it's better than cars, but if it's still a major problem, I wonder if there's another way to manufacture less problematic tires. Maybe biodegradable?
Yeah, but bikes and buses still use tires. I was just wondering how the tires we will need to use in the future can be manufactured to reduce the pollution problem
Im not saying they're apples to apples, I'm saying that I was just wondering if we could design tires that were less conducive to creating microparticles
It doesn't matter what they're made of, either the street or the tire is going to break down due to friction. One of two things is being washed down the drain. And you don't want it to be the road.
You could design both road and wheel to be steel, those would break down the least, but steel wheels need tracks and then you're back to street cars. Which are great, by the way.
For a less disruptive solution, no current material matches the qualities of vulcanized rubber that we want for tires. The rubber we use on tires is relatively slow to break down, can hold pressure, makes good contact with rough surfaces, and is cheap.
If you can design a material that's better for the environment that does all of that, you'll be a billionaire within a year.
Have you heard about trains? More than a hundred years ago people could go from one village to another using a network of railways. My rural region had multiple stations and it was possible to go in cities that now require a car to do so.
And now I'm cycling on some of that old disused railway network. In rural regions too!
It's obvious that it's not everyone that can do with a cocktail of transport and take trains or bike everywhere, but reducing the number of cars by offering options that were existing a century ago could be a good place to start, instead of trying to save the polluting and inefficient car industry.