Are electric cars more polluting than thermal cars?

According to thousands of Internet users, a study published a few weeks ago confirmed that electric vehicles are 1,850 times more polluting than thermal cars. This is false, as these internet users have in fact hijacked a British study that made no comparison between thermal and electric vehicles.

CO2 emissions “half that of an electric car”

This report compares emissions produced by tire wear and exhaust for only one pollutant. That is, fine particles, not CO2. Thermal car tire wear produces 1,850 times more fine particles than exhaust pipes, the study concluded. “We want to draw attention to particulate pollution, but not ignore CO2 pollution, which is halved by electric cars”lamented Nick Molden, president of Emissions Analytics.