Ya, can you imagine how much more those oxen drawn carts will be kicking up? The sky is falling.....
My father was born in 1920 and he still remembers the talk when he was a kid about how cars were "pollution free". What they meant was cars don't produce manure.
As cities grew in the late 1800s and early 1900s they became faced with an ever increasing manure problem. In 1900 New York City was having to deal with 1200 metric tons of manure a day as well as all the flies that bred. London had the Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894 where there were predictions that in 50 years the streets of London were going to be buried under 9 feet of manure.
Not only was manure a problem, but horses used for city transport were often mistreated and dying on the job was not uncommon. Owners would then abandon the carcass and the city would have to deal with it. New York City removed 15,000 dead horses a year from city streets.
As soon as the price of cars began to get within the reach of the middle class, horses quickly disappeared from city streets. Cars were not only touted as "pollution free" but they were cheaper to keep and quickly evolved to be able to move more weight than any horse ever could.
People will gravitate towards a new idea once they are convinced it's better than the old one. Tesla is just short of that tipping point now with EVs. When the Model 3 gets out there in large numbers and people of more modest means than those who can afford a Model S or X start getting them, people will get a chance to see and drive the cars and learn about them from the new owners. It will spread like wildfire at that point.
Right now some people are convinced EVs are the future, but the general public are still thinking ICEs are it for now.
In any case, I think this may have just been one of those click bait articles that don't say anything of value, but have a catchy headline to draw in viewers.
