Tyre-Induced Microplastics: An Unknown Arena for e-Mobility

Non-exhaust emissions constitute vehicular emissions released from brakes, tyres, and road dust resuspension. Brake emissions are quantified using particulate matter (PM), and tyre emissions primarily represent the traffic-related microplastics. Road dust is an agglomerate of emissions released from traffic and non-traffic sources. Tyre abrasion has gained traction in the last two decades, owing to the large presence of tyre and road wear tracers in the microplastics sedimented in the soil or runoff to oceans (reaching 50% or above in several countries). The sampling methods or mitigation measures are at an early stage for both brakes and tyres. Research on brake emissions, however, is more concrete, and the test method will be standardized with the upcoming Euro 7 regulation limits set for PM10 (particles less than 10 um). Tyre abrasion depends on several factors external to the tyre design such as driving behavior, weather conditions, and vehicle mass. With the global uptake of electric vehicle (EV) adoption, it is important to investigate the existing widespread approach that the increased EV weight is the single determining factor to estimate the tyre-induced microplastics. This article, according to our research, provides a novel assessment on different influencing factors specific to EV applications that should be considered when determining the tyre-induced wear for an EV.