With the environmental pollution reaching alarming levels, the UKgovernment’s Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) identified emission from tyres and brakes as a prime contributor to the declining air quality.
It mentioned that emissions from car brakes and tyres will still pollute city air even when the vehicle fleet has gone all-electric.
Tiny particulates from tyres, road surfaces and brakes will mix with the city water bodies and ultimately get carried away to the sea, the government advisers said.
Ministers stated that they are mulling to pass standards to improve tyres and brakes.
“Data from the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory indicate that particles from brake wear, tyre wear and road surface wear currently constitute 60 per cent and 73 per cent (by mass), respectively, of primary PM2.5 and PM10 emissions from road transport, and will become more dominant in the future.
“Currently they contribute 7.4 per cent and 8.5 per cent of all UK primary PM2.5 and PM10 emissions. Therefore to achieve further gains in PM2.5 and PM10 air quality in relation to road transport sources requires attention to reducing nonexhaust emissions, not solely a focus on lowering exhaust emissions,” the report stated.
Advisors also warned that Non-exhaust emissions (NEE) are expected to rise from 7.4 per cent today to 10 per cent of all UK PM2.5 emissions by 2030.
The AQEG recommends NEE to be treated as a source of ambient concentrations of particulate matter on an ‘immediate priority’, especially as the demand for electric vehicles is increasing.
In the UK there is currently no legislation on NEE and the government urged carmakers to tackle the rising problem.
“So while legislation has driven down emissions of particles from exhausts, the non-exhaust proportion of road traffic emissions has increased,” it added.
Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said ‘Emissions from car exhausts have been decreasing through the development of cleaner technologies and there is now a need for the car industry to find innovative ways to address the challenges of air pollution from other sources.’
