“A report from the Pew Charitable Trust found that 78 percent of ocean microplastics are from synthetic tire rubber.”
A car’s four tires shed 1 trillion ultrafine particles every kilometer, small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier. EVs shed about 20 percent more because they are heavier and torquier. Tire and brake particles now outweigh tailpipe emissions from modern fleets. Decades of exhaust rules, and the pollution was rolling along underneath the whole time.