A new study from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine used satellite data to confirm that zero-emission cars do have a clear and positive impact on air quality.
Published in The Lancet Planetary Health, the new study pulled high-resolution satellite data from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) that can detect nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) in the atmosphere by measuring how the gas absorbs and reflects sunlight, according to Phys.org. This data was then used to calculate the annual average NO₂ levels in each California neighborhood from 2019 to 2023.
So, what did all this data show? For every 200 new zero-emissions vehicles registered in a California neighborhood between 2019 and 2023, NO₂ levels dropped by 1.1%.