Gaining traction, losing tread Pollution from tire wear is now 1,850 times worse than exhaust emissions
By some distance, the research Emissions Analytics published in early 2020 claiming that tire particulate wear emissions were 1,000 times worse than exhaust emissions generated the most feedback of any subject we have tackled so far – feedback that was a mixture of surprise and skepticism.
Of particular attention was whether such a rate of wear would mean that any tire could be spent within just a few thousand miles with legal driving, however aggressive. Particularly vocal was the battery electric vehicle (BEV) community, sensitive to any suggestion that the added weight of these vehicles might lead to tire wear emissions that might confound the ‘zero emissions’ tag. Such was the reaction, the story was translated into over 40 languages worldwide.
