Review of: "Electric Vehicle Fleet Penetration and Air Pollution Mortality in Europe"

Short summary:The manuscript examines the relationship between electric vehicle eet penetration and PM2.5-attributable mortality across 35 European countries using cross-sectional 2023-2024 data.The reported Pearson correlation is moderately negative (r = -0.465,p = 0.013).The author concludes that higher BEV eet shares are associated with lower PM2.5 mortality but correctly emphasizes that electri cation is necessary but not suf cient: eet turnover lag, multiple PM2.5 sources, meteorology, and comprehensive policy packages all mediate the relationship. Methodology and Data Strengths and WeaknessesStrengths Fleet stock rather than sales data is used, which better re ects current exposure.Public sources (EEA, ACEA) are cited, improving transparency and reproducibility.The manuscript explicitly discusses contextual factors (turnover lag, emission source mix, geography), showing a systems perspective.Weaknesses and ambiguities Cross-sectional design prevents causal inference; some language in conclusions risks implying causality.EV penetration estimates for some countries rely on inferred values; the magnitude of measurement error is not quanti ed.