We need to find a way to reduce tire emissions already!

Emissions from tires are significant local pollution factor. Rubber particles pollute the air around us and end up in oceans, too. While a switch to electric cars helps combat climate change, it makes local air pollution worse, because electric cars are heavier than ICE cars and thus produce more tire emissions. Tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions, while contributing to global warming, aren’t a local health issue, but fine particle dust is. It’s just crazy that ICE vehicles are (rightfully) regulated into extinction, only to be replaced with cars that worse for our respiratory health.

I do have hope, however. And the hope is that tires have shorter lifecycles than the cars that “wear” them. This potentially also means shorter innovation cycles. If we can engineer low-emission tires (or some other way to reduce emissions), we can slip them onto existing electric vehicles to create a fleet of true low-emission vehicles.