Electric cars: a progressive mode of transportation or a real health hazard?
Kyiv • UNN
Nuclear and radiation safety experts have refuted widespread rumors about harmful radiation from electric vehicles. The study showed that electric cars meet all safety standards and pose no threat to health.
Just ten years ago, they looked like mechanisms from the pages of science fiction. Today, even the residents of the most remote towns in Ukraine are not surprised by them. We are talking about electric cars. However, recently, posts about the allegedly harmful radiation from the batteries in these cars have begun to spread on social media. UNN decided to investigate.
Some people argue that the engines and batteries of such electric cars can cause harm to health through electromagnetic and radioactive radiation.
UNN asked the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety for clarification.
"We received messages and also saw a lot of videos on social media that they were measuring what something was emitting. Somewhere, some kind of conventional radiation has appeared and people are looking at it and that's it - electric cars are dangerous, you need to refuse, you need to stop using and fear for your life... Electromagnetic radiation emitted by an electric car is not ionizing... The car would not have gone on sale if it did not meet certain standards and certain norms of certain countries," Zakhar Ivanov, a representative of the Center, told UNN.
We decided to scan electric cars for the amount of radiation. We went through the areas where the battery, engine, and charging connector are located. The expert says that in such vehicles, an overestimated level of indicators can only indicate a malfunction of the components. This simply cannot be the case with the whole car.
"There is nothing harmful in the car. I think if there was something harmful, the background would affect health or potency in men... Then these cars would not have been released to the general market, they would not have been in such demand... Take Norway, for example, right? ... And there are more than 50% of electric cars there. And I doubt that if they were harmful, the government would do everything to encourage people to switch to electric cars," says Andrii Taranenko, head of sales at the TESLA park car center.
Also, according to the expert, even with small doses of electromagnetic waves, the most protected are those people who are in the car.
"I saw on my dashboard that the indicators have decreased. Because we have, accordingly, entered a more protected environment and the car is a kind of screen between us and the environment. In any case, even if, God forbid, some event occurs, when you get into the car, you will be in a more protected environment than just the environment around you," Zakhar Ivanov, a representative of the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety said.
What is the result? The expert assessment and our own experience with the "transport of the future" convinced us of its safety. Everyone present agreed that the only proven disadvantage is the battery charging speed. Currently, it takes at least 40 minutes to bring a green car to a "full tank" state. But engineers assure us that this should be improved in the next few years. We are protecting the environment, and progress, as we know, does not stand still.
