- Gasoline cars will be part of the past due to the high pollution of the engines.
- However, there are other car systems that are almost as dangerous to health, but few pay attention.
- It is about the brakes, about the nanoparticles that arise from the friction between the pads and the discs.
Gasoline’s days are numbered in the automobile business segment. Sooner rather than later, battery-powered motors will end up replacing them and internal combustion will be just a memory.
In some countries, this withdrawal will be more dizzying, since emission regulations will be activated that the industry will have to comply with to sell its products.
However, heEnvironmentalists warn that combustion engines are not the only problem with vehicles in terms of pollution.
That’s right, braking systems are almost as polluting and there is no solution, for now, to this phenomenon.
Car brakes pollute (and a lot)
Every time you brake, cars give off very small particles that are dangerous because their size can penetrate deep into the lungs.
From there, enter the bloodstream and can cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions (such as strokes), to breathing difficulties.
Of course, they pollute the land and water in the same way.
The experts know it. The World Health Organization (WHO) said not long ago in a document: 99 percent of the world’s population breathes air that is in excess of recommended quality limits.
An investigation of the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon, France, brake pads generate 20 thousand tons of dust in suspension per year.
Of that total, 9 thousand tons remain suspended in the atmosphere.
The goal of Consortium for Ultra-Low Emissions from Vehicles (Clove) in Europe, which is used as a guide for the drafting of future Euro 7 standards, is that the polluting emission of the brakes is reduced by at least 50 percent.
Transport & Environment, for its part, says that this goal is “insufficient” and that it should be more than 85 percent.
The problem is that there is no replacement in sight for the braking systems of today’s cars. At least not an efficient one that gives good quality results and is not more expensive.
The key is the reduction of copper, but it is not easy. Companies have been trying for years, without success.
Porsche, for example, uses tungsten carbide brake discs. Something that, according to their studies, obtains braking just as efficient as ceramic brakes, but with low dust emissions.
Another alternative is simply to put a deposit to collect the loose particles when braking.
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