Electric vehicle fast-charging stations are pollutant hot spots, according to a new UCLA study. EV drivers taking a road trip for the long Fourth of July weekend might want to stand back while recharging their batteries: Scientists found the air around EV fast chargers had around twice as much fine particulate matter compared to general urban levels. 

While that’s dangerous to breathe in, the good news is that it’s over a small area and relatively easy to avoid. The scientists who measured the air quality believe the chargers aren’t making the pollution, but that it's due to cooling fans inside fast-chargers’ power cabinets kicking up traffic dust deposited by visiting EVs. Fixing it might just be a matter of making a few engineering tweaks to the power cabinets, said the senior author of the study, UCLA environmental health professor Yifang Zhu:

  • “There’s no healthy amount of fine particulate matter to breathe, and the amount around fast chargers for electric vehicles is about twice as high as background levels of PM 2.5 (fine particulate matter). We tested 50 fast-chargers across L.A. and found higher particle levels near their power cabinets, with even higher levels of metal tracers from brake and tire particles.”
  • “EVs remain a vast improvement over combustion vehicles, and our own studies show that transportation electrification cleans the air for everyone. These unintended emissions by fast chargers should be addressed, such as by adding air filters to prevent redistribution of fine particulate matter.”
  • “In Los Angeles, the urban background PM 2.5 is 7 to 8 micrograms per cubic meter. Urban traffic sites in L.A., like freeways or busy intersections, range around 10 to 11. We measured a few gas stations at about 12. Fast chargers average 15, and sometimes peaked as high as 200.”
  • “We measured at different distances from the chargers. The high measurements [15-200] were taken at the chargers’ power cabinets. Fortunately, a few meters away, the concentrations drop quite a bit. A few hundred meters away, there’s no noticeable difference compared to background levels of pollution.” 
  • “The main concern is for EV drivers. When they charge their car at a fast charger, they’re exposed to elevated levels of harmful particulate matter. But they can mitigate their exposure by being inside their car running the climate system, or by going indoors or to a nearby open space.”

Media are encouraged to quote from Zhu’s comments or to reach out to request an interview with her, her co-authors, or other UCLA climate experts. Zhu and her colleagues are currently testing 24 additional locations, comparing air quality at gas stations and neighboring fast chargers. Zhu is a professor of environmental health sciences at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, with expertise in air pollution, emissions and exposure assessment.