A new study led by an international team of scientists highlights tire particles (TPs) as the leading contributor to microplastics and calls for urgent, targeted research to address their unique environmental and health risks.
Accounting for nearly one-third of all microplastics,
Reducing the size and weight of a car goes a long way for environmental impact. People seem to think it’s just less fuel being burned.
In reality, there is a reduction of almost every consumable. Smaller tyres. Less tyre wear. Less brake dust. Less oil used. Less chemicals when washing. Less wear on the road surface. Less manufacturing emissions. Less disposal when it’s done.
The relationship isn’t linear either. Doubling the weight of the car results in about 10x the surface wear.
This reminds me of those solar cars. https://wonderfulengineering.com/family-solar-car-stella-runs-completely-on-solar-energy/
These news are becoming tiresome
But EVs are supposed to solve everything!
Edit for the downvoters: I’m not against EVs as a replacement for ICE, but they’re not an endgame solution. We need to reduce the number of cars, period, whether they’re ICE or not.
Why would you want for electric vehicles to replace Inter City Express trains?
It’s an abomination unto the Lord
-Leviticus 3:10 to Yuma
Nope! Instead, they save car industry profits!
Anyone want to team up to start up an organic tire manufacturer with all natural rubber tires?
Cars won’t be gotten rid of entirely. But we can reduce their usage. Rideshare systems (non-evil ones, not just Uber/Lyft; a membership system has been tried in Europe and works well) could help reduce the need for cars.
You have to vulcanize it to make it usable. That also makes it not degrade in the environment.
Wonder what environmental impact of trains is. I assume there must be some.
If we’re just looking at the grinding of the metal wheels against the rails, it’s very little. Some metallic particles are produced in the normal wear but ferrous metals easily react and oxidize into more inert and normal forms for life.
