According to Utah's Division of Air Quality, roughly 50% of Utah's air pollution comes from vehicle emissions. The Utah Foundation and the Utah Clean Air Partnership, or UCAIR, are studying alternative fueled cars as a way to lessen the amount of pollution in the air.
"So, we're at the initial stages of the study, but if you look at the alternative fueled vehicles out there now, they're just a very small percentage of vehicles on the road," said Shawn Tiegen, vice president and reserach director for the Utah Foundation. "We think that over time, that percentage is going to increase greatly, particularly when battery technology becomes so cheap that some of these cars are comparably priced to internal combustion cars. So we're going to see them making a larger and larger impact on overall air quality along the Wasatch Front.”
However, Tiegen said from what they've seen, Utah has a lot of work to do to prepare the state for more electric cars.
"If so many more electric fuel vehicles will be on the road as prices continue to come down," he said, "if we don't act now, there's some concern that all these cars will be on the road but there won't be the infrastructure... So, we need to make sure we're ahead of the demand for charging...in order to maintain a secure electric infrasture into the future. "
The full report will be available to the public late september and will include more data on incentives and disincentives on alternative fuels for Utah and from across the country.
