b"transportationLeading the way to greener travels WHAT By Healthy Eagle staffWe want to move with technology, saysDOES IT James Logan Elementary School Mr. Marquette, who manages Quests Imagine that you are in charge of afleet in Pennsylvania and other mid- MEAN?Atlantic states. Technology is moving in company that has 6,000 cars and vansthe electric direction.that travel 425,000 miles every day. Quest uses cars and vans to transport blood and other But gas-powered vehiclesspecimens from hospitalsCarbon dioxide is a release a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,and doctors offices to itscolorless gas that traps heat laboratories around the which is not healthy for thecountry. There, Quest labin the atmosphere, which environment. What can you do? workers run medical tests.scientists say is not healthy The test results help doctors People at Quest DiagnosticsMike Marquettelearn about their patientsfor the environment.thought about this question.Senior Logistics Manager health problems.And they decided to beginTo collect the blood and specimens, Questthe road, the cars battery can drain replacing their gas-powered fleet withdrivers pick up samples 24 hours a day,more quickly when the air conditioner is electric vehicles. seven days a week, Mr. Marquette says. Aused or the phone is being charged. If an The company now has six electric cars intypical driver travels 90 miles a day, butelectric car needs to be towed, it must Pennsylvania and nearby states, says Mikesome go 350 miles in a day, he says.be put on a flatbed truck or the charging Marquette, a senior logistics manager atIt will make a big difference when all themechanism in the car could be damaged, Quest.The company is adding more in theQuest vehicles are electric. Mr. MarquetteMr. Marquette says. rest of the country and hopes to be fullysays the company wont need to buyWhats the next horizon for greener electric by 2035. about 25,000 gallons of gasoline a day.transportation? Mr. Marquette says Mr. Marquette says the company isThat means Quest will be saving about 10the company is exploring using drones making the change for a few reasons. cents for every mile a car is driven.to collect and deliver specimens. We Electric cars dont release harmful carbonBut electric cars have challenges too. Mr.are moving more and more into green dioxide. Plus, Quest will save moneyMarquette and his co-workers are testinginitiatives, he says.because it wont have to pay for gasoline,the limits of these vehicles. Their batteries he says. take 10 hours to recharge, he says. On FUN FACTSIn 2030, when today's 10-year-olds are just starting to drive, experts expect more than 26 million electric vehicles (EVs) will be on U.S. roads. That's a lot more than the roughly 3 million EVs today but still only about a tenth of what experts say could be 259 million cars and trucks by then. (Sources: Edison Electric Institute and The White House.)The first electric car was invented by Robert Anderson in the 1830s. It was an electric carriage in Scotland, according to the Library of Congress. S p r i n g 2 0 2 3 | H E A L T H Y N E W S W O R K S . O R G7"