Motor vehicle emit a number of pollutant . Perhaps the most damaging is particulate matter matter , a compounding of organic material and inorganic substance . junk , soil , Zen , metallic element , and organic chemicals are some of the component of particulate affair . Most of the stuff is extremely modest , and the modest the particle , the more damaging ; particles less than 10 micrometer in diameter are capable of entering the lungs . Once in the lung , the particulate matter matter can also induce serious problem for the heart . Nitrogen dioxide , grow when fuel is burned at high temperatures , can also spell out trouble ; in high-pitched concentrations , it can damage your lung and cause chest pains .
explosive constitutional compounds ( good known as VOCs ) are also found in melodic phrase befoulment , and they ’re just as grave as the name would suggest . Unlike particulate matter subject and some of the other well - known pollutant , VOCs have no gustatory modality , smell or color . They ’re know as " volatile " because of how easy they evaporate at elbow room temperature . Some VOCs , such as benzol , are known carcinogen . Though VOCs are primarily produce through industrial way , fomite do eject them as they burn fuel . Even automobile interiors relinquish VOCs .
But just how much pollution do cars bring forth ? The answer is more complicated than you might expect . For appetiser , zephyr befoulment is n’t consistent around the earth or even around the commonwealth . Areas of dumb population – or , more specifically , areas where bombastic quantity of fossil fuels are burned – have much higher levels of atmosphere pollution than sparsely - occupied regions . heavy - populate cities such as Los Angeles , Mexico City and Beijing are all celebrated for their air pollution . conditions conditions also bear on aura quality , result in daily fluctuations in the breathability of the air . So , befoulment level do n’t just vary from one geographical area to another ; they also vary from one day to the next .
And yet with all those variables , scientists can still give us an close together percentage of the air pollution produce by cars in the United States . According to the Environmental Protection Agency , motor vehicles produce roughly one - one-half of pollutants like VOCs , nitrogen oxide and particulate matter matter . Seventy - five pct of carbon monoxide emission hail from auto . In urban areas , harmful automotive discharge are responsible for anywhere between 50 and 90 percentage of air pollution . All told , that ’s quite a lot of aura defilement coming from our vehicle .
Because many people are reluctant to give up their cars or quash the number of metre spent on the road , the automotive industry has made some key change over the years that help thin the harmful emission produce by vehicles . Catalytic converters were developed in the 1970s as a way to convert pollutants into emissions that are n’t quite so harmful . More late , hybrid and electric vehicles have become extremely popular among the environmentally - apt . But even with these advancements , air pollution stay a major concern . As the debate over the environment and the risks of fossil fuels continues , motor vehicles still represent a major challenge on the route to clean melodic line .
