From the “duh” department, California is already becoming more healthy because of electric car penetration, which has resulted in cleaner air in areas where electric cars are more prevalent, according to a new study.

The study was published last week by the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. It tracked real-world pollution levels, electric car penetration, and emergency room visits across California between 2013 and 2019, and controlled against overall improvements in California air quality during the study period.

Completely unsurprisingly, the study found that clean air vehicles actually resulted in clean air, with the benefits being stronger in areas where there were more of them. Amazing. Who knew.

Each increase of 20 cars per 1,000 people (which is roughly equivalent to 2% of cars – since CA has 840 cars per 1,000 people) was associated with a .41ppb (parts per billion) drop in nitrogen dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. California law sets average NOx standards at 30ppb, so a drop of .41 is a pretty big chunk, especially when compared to just 2% of EV penetration.

It stands to reason that taking gas cars off the road would reduce NOx, because nitrogen dioxide is a form of pollution particularly associated with vehicle tailpipes, and is the major contributor to the formation of smog, with a variety of negative health effects.

Read more: Electrek

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