The environmental benefits of electric vehicles are well established (despite what some haters would have you believe), and millions of owners will attest to the savings on fuel and maintenance. However, there’s another benefit that’s received much less attention: switching to zero-emission cars means less air pollution-related illness, and therefore substantial savings in health care costs.
EV advocates often invoke the benefits of cleaner urban air. In announcing their plan to banish fossil fuel vehicles from Amsterdam’s city center by 2030, Dutch authorities said that air pollution is shortening the average life expectancy of Amsterdammers by a year. A 2018 European study found that electric buses have a lower total cost of ownership than diesels when health-related costs are considered. A recent study published in the International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles found that, in many scenarios, the cost of installing charging station infrastructure would be more than offset by the savings in air pollution-related health costs.
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