Widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) with robust power plant emission controls and power sector decarbonization policies will yield net air quality and health benefits in every state in India in 2040, a new study finds.
Widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) with robust power plant emission controls and power sector decarbonization policies will yield net air quality and health benefits in every state in India in 2040, a new study finds. This is the case even under the conservative assumption that the additional power demand from EVs is met entirely by fossil fuel power plants.
The study was carried out by researchers from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur). It estimates vehicle and power sector emissions, air quality, premature mortality, and avoided health damages in India under an ambitious EV sales scenario between 2020 and 2040, with and without robust power sector emission control and decarbonization strategies.
Findings for 2030 and 2040 suggest that stricter emission control strategies tend to be more effective at avoiding premature deaths than ambitious decarbonization strategies. Importantly, though, the benefits are largely additive: Combining the two strategies maximizes the benefits of EVs and brings improved air quality in every Indian state in 2040 compared to the baseline in 2040. This results in as many as 70,380 avoided premature deaths, equivalent to avoided health costs of up to $80.7 billion (2020 U.S. dollars) in 2040 alone.
Read more at International Council on Clean Transportation
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