Switching to EVs Benefits Kids the Most, American Lung Society Says

Switching to electric cars, buses, and trucks could dramatically improve air quality and save your kid’s life, a new report from the American Lung Association finds.

“The transition to cleaner transportation and electricity will benefit everyone’s health, but it is especially important for children,” the report says.

The numbers are based on a hypothetical scenario in which the US has moved to all zero-emission transportation, as well as transitioned the electric grid to non-combustion renewable energy, by 2040. Since that transition has already started, it quantifies the health benefits of doing so between 2020 and 2050.

With these parameters in mind, the study finds that switching from gas-powered to electric transportation could prevent up to:

• 2.79 million pediatric asthma attacks

• 147,000 pediatric acute bronchitis cases 

• 2.67 million pediatric upper respiratory symptoms

• 1.87 million pediatric lower respiratory symptoms 

• 508 infant mortality cases 

While preventing more than 500 infant mortality cases may seem hard to believe, looking at biological differences between kids and adults offers an explanation. Children’s lungs are not yet fully developed, their immune systems are not yet adept at fighting off infections, and their nasal passages aren’t as effective at filtering out pollutants.

Children also breathe more quickly than adults, taking in a larger portion of air in relation to their body weight. Spending long periods outside being active means they inhale more polluted air, leading to asthma attacks, bronchitis, and even death. Exposure to ozone and particle pollution during pregnancy is also strongly associated with premature birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth.

“Air pollution harms children’s health and wellbeing today, and the transportation sector is a leading source of air pollution,” says Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. “Vehicle emissions are also nation’s biggest source of carbon pollution that drives climate change and associated public health harms.”

The report calls on policymakers to keep up momentum for the switch to zero-emission vehicles. The Biden administration has already carved out billions to transition the nation’s school buses from diesel to electric, though recent anti-EV sentiment could be a worrying threat to progress. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also reportedly considering softening its requirements for automakers to primarily sell EVs by 2032.