Are EV charging stations polluting the air that you breathe in WA?

So electric cars are good for the environment, right? You don't have any tailpipe emissions. You do have some particles created by tires and break wear. (More on that later) Although that's true of all vehicles. At least in Chelan and Douglas counties there's no pollution from generating the electricity that we use to charge an electric car. 

But based on a UCLA study, there is pollution coming from the charging station. 

According to insideevs.com,
‘A team at UCLA, led by environmental health professor Yifang Zhu, found that the air around EV fast chargers in use had twice the amount of harmful fine particles typically found in an urban environment.’ 

The UCLA research team tested over 50 different charging systems in the LA area and the results were consistent from site to site.

The type of pollution they're talking about is “fine particulate matter”. The team emphasized that there is no safe level of fine particulate matter, but they did say for LA, the background level is what's called PM (Particulate matter) 2.5. Measurements at the charging stations came out at about double that amount. 

Now here's where it gets interesting, (at least to me.) 

The increase in fine particulate matter was not located at the charging outlet but at the power cabinet that supplies the electricity to the charging outlet. Why is that significant? Because the fine particulate matter is not coming from the chargers themselves. The increased measurement is coming from the fans in the power cabinets turning on and off as needed to cool the electronics. 

The wind from the fans is stirring up the fine particulate matter that has either settled on the ground around the power cabinets or settled inside the cabinets themselves. 

The study found that the highest levels of fine particulate matter were measured next to the power cabinets when the fans were in operation, but even 2 yards away the levels would drop dramatically.  

To me, the lesson is if you're going to charge your electric car, pick the charging station farthest from the power cabinet. (It's pretty easy to tell which is which.)  

So, if I'm in the tri-cities and I need to charge my car, I will go to my favorite charging station at the Circle K in Kennewick and pick the charging station farthest from the power cabinet. Plus, while the car is charging, I will be inside the Circle K getting a snack.
The Quiet EV Charging Emissions You Didn't Know Existed
EV fast chargers are pollutant hot spots | UCLA
Inhalable Particulate Matter and Health (PM2.5 and PM10) | California Air Resources Board