Date
Monday, November 13, 2023
Time
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Name
Emissions and Health Impact of Electric Vehicle Adoption on Disadvantaged Communities
Session ID
C1 - Electric Vehicles and Equity
Track
Transportation
Description

Vehicle electrification is an important policy initiative in California, as it offers significant air-quality and climate benefits. However, it's crucial to ensure that these benefits are equitably distributed across the state's various communities, especially disadvantaged populations. In this study, we analyze the impact of EV adoption on disadvantaged communities (DACs) in California, as detected by the CalEnviroScreen environmental justice screening tool. Our findings show that statewide adoption of EVs will reduce primary PM2.5 emissions by 20 kilo-tonnes and CO2 emissions by 1.2 giga-tonnes through 2045, resulting in monetized health benefits from reduced mortality and morbidity valued at $2.42-2.68 billion. However, our analysis also reveals that DACs will experience an average per capita air pollution benefit of $1.6 less than that of the least 10% vulnerable communities in 2020, and this disparity will widen to over $31 per capita in 2045. These results highlight the distributive and equity impacts of current EV support policies and underscore the need for policy frameworks that create a more equitable transportation system.

Supporting Document 1