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Comment by Etheryte | Hacker News Reader

> Conspiracy theories are rampant - somebody told me they thought the tires on EVs would give them cancer

Well I mean, they're not really wrong. Tires release 100 times the amount of volatile organic compounds as a modern tailpipe [0] and those emissions are roughly 20% higher for EVs on average simply because they weigh more. Pollution is strongly linked to numerous types of cancer and tires are a big culprit here.

[0] https://e360.yale.edu/features/tire-pollution-toxic-chemical...

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They were wrong, in that I think they read something similar to what you linked and completely misunderstood what it was saying to mean "the EV engines turn tires into cancer poison," rather than "EVs put more stress on their tires as byproduct of their weight, which in turn can release carcinogens."

The Chevy Bolt weights about 3,600 pounds - while heavy for a vehicle of its size, it is not particularly different from an average "midsize" car weight, at least according to Google. This seems like a red herring to me given how much larger most cars on the road are, at least as far as the Bolt is concerned. Perhaps it is an issue for larger EVs like the Model Y or Mach E.

The results vary study to study, but a good ballpark measure is that the average EV is 15% heavier than the average ICE [0]. Other studies I've seen are in the same range, roughly between 15-20%. So if anything, I would call it counterintuitive at best — it's a very real problem, simply the awareness around it is low.

[0] https://www.automotivelogistics.media/insight/you-gotta-carr...

But let's compare it to a Ford 250 which is about 2x the weight. I think it's more than lack of awareness, but ignorance. They dont ask why EV = cancer.

This is missing the point entirely. Finding one ICE that's heavier than an EV doesn't change the fact that on average, EVs are considerably heavier than ICEs. You can pick individual examples from either set that are light or heavy, but on average EVs weigh more and hence their tires wear more.

I think we got that point, just kinda focusing on your other since there is an entire fleet of ICE vehicles that are simply unavailable as an EV. My point was its conspiracy, not uninformed simply because they nutjob in the example never mentioned weight, never questioned why, and took EV = cancer as fact. It doesn't matter if EVs weigh 5x more or 5x less.

> Pollution is strongly linked to numerous types of cancer and tires are a big culprit here

Is there a comparison with harmful pollutants from the exhaust including CO, from engine from oil, gas leaks from gas station underground tanks etc. I think an EV comes way ahead.

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