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In New York City, congestion pricing leads to marked drop in pollution

(e360.yale.edu)
472 points Brajeshwar | 1 comments | 10 Dec 25 15:25 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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lkbm ◴[10 Dec 25 15:34 UTC] No.46218856[source]▶
> Particulates issued from tailpipes can aggravate asthma and heart disease and increase the risk of lung cancer and heart attack. Globally, they are a leading risk factor for premature death.

Minor nitpick, but tailpipes aren't the primary source of emissions. The study is about PM2.5[0]. which will chiefly be tires and brake pads. Modern gasoline engines are relatively clean, outside of CO2, though diesel engines spit out a bunch of bad stuff.

[0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s44407-025-00037-2

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bryanlarsen ◴[10 Dec 25 16:36 UTC] No.46219865[source]▶
It's true that brake dust is the primary PM2.5 emission from vehicles in an urban environment. However the PM2.5 component from tail pipes are still very significant, higher than the contribution from tires.

The order is:

1. brake dust 2. road dust 3. engine emissions 4. tire dust

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00456...

https://electrek.co/2025/05/27/another-way-electric-cars-cle...

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somewhereoutth ◴[10 Dec 25 16:58 UTC] No.46220172[source]▶
and would it be true to say that regenerative braking on electric cars reduces significantly this dust?
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thmsths ◴[10 Dec 25 17:09 UTC] No.46220338[source]▶
I recall a discussion on HN explaining that while true, this might be offset by the higher average weight of EVs, leading to more dust from the tires and the road. Again, no easy solution unfortunately, just trade offs.
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iambateman ◴[10 Dec 25 17:15 UTC] No.46220426[source]▶
If that were true of tires, you would expect an EV’s tires to get substantially less range before wearing out…which I don’t believe is the case.
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rconti ◴[10 Dec 25 17:42 UTC] No.46220799[source]▶
IME they only wear out maybe 15-20% faster than you'd think. On the other hand, over the span of 40,000 miles, a tire loses a LOT more rubber by weight/volume than a brake pad loses pad material. No idea what the PM2.5 breakdown is though.
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1. bryanlarsen ◴[10 Dec 25 17:47 UTC] No.46220868[source]▶
The difference is that only about 1% of the worn rubber ends up in the air whereas most of the brake pad ends up in the air. Most of the worn rubber stays on the road. Where it will get washed away by the rain to end up as microplastics in the water.