The environmental benefits from electric cars (ECs) depend on several aspects, including source of electric energy generation, type of EC, and associated air pollutant emissions. For example, EC fleet (full ECs, no hybrid ECs) do not emit gaseous pollutants, but still emit a certain amount of particulate matter. Full ECs emit particulate matter through their non-exhaust sources, which includes wear and tear of tires and brakes. Often, non-exhaust particulate emissions are neglected by decision makers and environmental agencies. This may impact the development of effective environmental and public health policies. In this paper, we assess particulate matter emissions (PM10 and PM2.5) considering two EC adoption scenarios within a major metropolitan area in Canada-Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). In addition, we estimate potential human health risk for each scenario. Our results show that non-exhaust particle emissions (brake and tire) consist of mostly PM10. We estimate that for Scenarios 1 (10% of EC penetration) and 2 (100% of EC penetration), the respective emission reductions (exhaust + brake + tire) will be 37 and 94% for PM2.5, and 4 and 85% for PM10. Furthermore, compared to baseline, 10 and 100% EC adoption scenarios will reduce PM-related annual deaths by 37 and 87%, respectively. However, even considering the aggressive 100% EC adoption scenario, we will still have considerable PM10 and PM2.5 non-tailpipe emissions, i.e., ~ 743 and 189 kg day−1, respectively. If 100% EC adoption scenario is realized, each individual in the GTHA will inhale about 0.80 × 10−3 ppm day−1 (where 1 ppm indicates that 1 g inhaled per each ton emitted). Our results underline the importance of non-tailpipe emissions. Therefore, we suggest that environmental agencies must develop policies to account for and limit non-exhaust PM emissions, and the automotive industry must focus on reducing non-exhaust emissions from ECs.