A new study published by British personal and commercial vehicle leasing company Vanarama analysing European transport emissions has underlined the unsurprising linkage between EV uptake and increased air quality.
Vanarama analysed European EV numbers against fine particulate matter emissions, also known as PM2.5, high levels of which can have a dramatically negative impact on human health, affecting lung function and worsening medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease.
The premise of Vanarama’s study is not new. England, for example, has reported around 36,000 deaths relating to air pollution, an issue which London and other cities have begun to fight with low and ultra-low emission zones.
Analysing passenger vehicle and EV numbers in Europe’s 50 most populated cities alongside local air quality levels, the study confirmed that the city of Oslo in Norway – a country with one of the highest levels of EV uptake on the planet – ranked highest with a score of 96 (out of 100).
Norway’s EV uptake figures lead the world, with 11,129 EVs per 100,000 people, compared to London which has 1,676 EVs per 100,000 people.
In terms of air quality on its own, Oslo scored 7.5μg/m – “good enough for the fifth-best figure in our research,” Vanarama explained.
Behind Oslo was the Swedish city of Gothenborg, with a score of 95, and a tie between Glasgow in Scotland and Stockholm in Sweden in fourth place with 94 points.
Dublin, Ireland, came in fifth with a score of 90 while the English cities of Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Bristol filled out the remaining top 10 at positions 6-8 and 10, respectively, bisected by Rotterdam in the Netherlands at number 9.
| Rank | City | Country | Number of EVs per 100,000 of population | Air quality (PM2.5 concentration μg/m3) | Score |
| 1 | Oslo | Norway | 11,129 | 7.5 | 96 |
| 2 | Gothenburg | Sweden | 2,922 | 5.9 | 95 |
| 3 | Glasgow | United Kingdom | 1,676 | 5.6 | 94 |
| 4 | Stockholm | Sweden | 3,001 | 6 | 94 |
| 5 | Dublin | Ireland | 1,714 | 7.8 | 90 |
| 6 | Birmingham | United Kingdom | 1,676 | 7.9 | 88 |
| 7 | Nottingham | United Kingdom | 1,676 | 8.3 | 87 |
| 8 | Sheffield | United Kingdom | 1,676 | 9 | 85 |
| 9 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | 3,209 | 9.9 | 84 |
| 10 | Bristol | United Kingdom | 1,676 | 9.7 | 83 |
While Norway remains one of the most notable EV leaders, regional neighbour Sweden is close on its heel – and in fact overtook Norway for EV sales in the first quarter of 2021.
Conversely, European cities with the lowest scores were the Serbian capital Belgrade, and the Croatian city of Zagreb, both of which scored a measly 6 out of 100, with an estimated 46 and 171 EVs per 100,000 people and an air quality rating of 23.4μg/m3 and 25.6μg/m3, respectively.
In fact, Zagreb’s air quality, second only to Sarajevo in Bosnia in Vanarama’s research, is more than four times lower than Glasgow’s air quality level.
Similarly, Poland ranked four times in the bottom 10 of the index with the cities of Krakow, Loldz, Wroclaw, and Poznan – a ranking exacerbated by being in a country with one of largest European passenger car markets and one which is dominated by combustion engines.
Polish cities also boast some of the worst air quality in the European Union, and while some of this can be laid directly at the feet of road transport, Poland is still burning coal and wood in record numbers.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.