No evidence that EVs cause infertility, and their magnetic fields are similar to those from household electronics

On 7 February 2025, Human Garage – a self-described “clinic for athletes and artists” that also sells supplements – posted a YouTube video of its co-founder Garry Lineman chatting with guest Justin Frandson (also known as @athleticismneurostacking) about the supposed dangers of “electromagnetic fields” or “EMFs” on human health. Part of the conversation steered towards electric vehicles (EVs), leading to a claim that EVs generate harmful “EMFs” that damage human fertility. In particular, Frandson claimed that simply entering an EV “will lower your testosterone at least 18%”.

Human Garage then posted a clip from this section of the video on Instagram with the caption: “If you’d like to find out more about how to protect yourself from EMF […] Comment ROCKS below, and we’ll send it to your DMs”. When we followed these instructions, we were given a link leading to a page on Frandson’s website where one could purchase a “Grounding Bag” containing grayish-white-colored “EMF Rocks”. Frandson claims both on his website and in the YouTube video that placing multiple bags around a person will guard the body against electromagnetic fields. The Instagram post has now collected more than 120,000 views.

Beyond this one example, the belief that EVs create electromagnetic fields has circulated in some form or another for more than 15 years. This may be one reason that researchers have studied EVs’ fields. The evidence, despite Lineman and Frandson’s assertions, doesn’t give a solid reason to believe that these fields have an effect on fertility or any other aspect of human health.

Below, we’ll explain what the evidence suggests.

No evidence that EVs harm fertility or testosterone, or that ‘EMF rocks’ will help

There is no evidence of a link between electric vehicles and infertility. Science Feedback searched the scientific literature via multiple methods, including Google Scholar and PubMed, and could not identify any studies that have investigated the matter, let alone any published evidence supporting the video’s assertion that “being in an electric car” will lower testosterone levels by 18% or any other figure. (Frandson credits the number to an unspecified “colleague doing blood work on military special forces”).

Even if such a link did exist, the idea that rocks placed in a car could cancel its electromagnetic field doesn’t make scientific sense. 

We should first clarify what ‘electromagnetic fields’ actually are. The term can refer to both electrical and magnetic fields, which are distinct but related physical phenomena. The electric current that powers an EV is made up of electrically charged particles called electrons. When these electric charges flow through a wire as electric current, they create a magnetic field.

We actually have the technology to block electromagnetic fields. This engineering practice is known as electromagnetic shielding, and it’s used in everything from mobile phones to microwave ovens. But electromagnetic shielding is usually done by wrapping the object being shielded with a metal that blocks electromagnetic fields (see Figure 1).

It is unclear whether ‘EMF rocks’ are made from a material that will block electrical or magnetic fields. (Science Feedback asked both Human Garage and Frandson’s website for more information on the rocks’ material.) And again, electromagnetic shielding (as seen in Figure 1) must completely surround the thing being shielded. Placing rock-filled bags around yourself will not completely shield you.

Frandson’s website claims that the bags received a positive result in “Dr. Barre Lando’s Wave Form Test”. This does not appear to be a peer-reviewed or publicly available test. “Dr. Barre Lando” appears to be a self-described “Physician, Kinesiologist-Functional Movement Specialist & Master Gardener”. His doctorate appears to be in chiropractic, and he does not appear to have any expertise qualifying him to run electromagnetic tests. Likewise, neither Lineham nor Frandson appear to have a recognized medical or scientific background. 

Certain other products that claim to protect their users from “electromagnetism” have been shown to do nothing of the sort. For example, in 2021, BBC News and researchers from Surrey University tested several stickers purporting to “counteract the harmful energy emitted by wireless and electronic equipment” and found that the stickers had no meaningful effect.

The magnetic fields inside EVs aren’t very strong

As we said earlier, electricity moving through a wire generates a magnetic field. This is a large reason that the most frequently measured aspect of electromagnetism inside an EV – or from any electric-powered device – is its magnetic field^[1]. 

So, for the rest of this review, we’ll focus on magnetic fields. Other parts of an EV, such as its metal wheels, can also generate small magnetic fields, but current flowing through the vehicle is the strongest source of magnetic field (see Figure 2). 

Yet these magnetic fields are not very intense. The strength of a magnetic field is usually measured in microteslas (µT). A typical refrigerator magnet has around 1,000 to 10,000 µT.  A stronger magnet – such as the neodymium magnets often used in computer hard drives – might have around 100,000 µT. Meanwhile, Earth’s magnetic field can range from 30 to 60 µT at our planet’s surface, with higher strengths towards the poles.

In comparison, when measured right next to an EV’s current, the magnetic field tops out at 300 µT – already weak compared to small magnets we might encounter on a daily basis. Moreover, that current tends to flow beneath EV occupants’ feet, and magnetic fields taper off with distance – people sitting inside an EV are usually some distance away and aren’t likely to experience that maximum^[1].

The authors of a 2014 study measured magnetic fields in eight different then-common EV models. In two of the models, the maximum field reached around 130 μT near the battery and near the feet of the driver and front passenger. The maximum field in the other models was significantly lower, and actually comparable to the magnetic fields in comparable combustion vehicles^[1].

There is a key difference: a refrigerator magnet or another permanent magnet is static, while the magnetic field from an EV’s current changes with time. How rapidly a magnetic field changes is called the frequency, and it’s measured in hertz (Hz). A frequency of 50 Hz, for example, tells us that the magnetic field varies 50 times per second. The magnetic fields in an EV are typically low-frequency^[1] – they have frequencies of at most several kilohertz (kHz), or several thousand hertz (see Figure 2).

This distinction is important, because static magnetic fields may have different effects from varying magnetic fields – though more research is necessary to establish how. That said, even the highest magnetic fields measured in the 2014 study are less than one-fifth of recommended exposure limits for low-frequency magnetic fields as delineated by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection^[1,2]. The U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says that low-frequency magnetic fields within established safety limits don’t pose a risk to human health.

A 2020 report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre agreed – its authors measured low-frequency magnetic fields in the passengers from five EV models, and in no case did the maximum field exceed around 5 μT. Some EV owners over the years have purportedly conducted their own tests, but these home-style tests probably don’t have the same rigor as tests published by professional researchers – as these tests lack peer-review, we likely would never know.

You might note that the electricity in any electric device – like a television – will then create a small magnetic field. Indeed, if you sit in an EV, you’ll get about the same magnetic field exposure as you would if you sat next to a television or stood on a residential street beneath a power line.

Inconclusive evidence that magnetic fields affect fertility

We mentioned above that we found no evidence linking electric fields to infertility, but what about magnetic fields in general?

There’s no clear evidence that low-frequency magnetic fields like those found in EVs hurt human male fertility or lower human testosterone levels. A 1999 study in Denmark compared the fertility of male welders – who are exposed to low-frequency magnetic fields at work – to male non-welders, and the study found no consistent effects on human fertility^[3]. A 2020 study of power plant workers in Iran found no correlation between magnetic field exposure and changes in testosterone level. (Science Feedback has previously covered claims that electromagnetic fields from wireless headphones harm male fertility, finding that there is insufficient evidence to support these claims.)

Similarly, any evidence that magnetic fields harm human female fertility is inconclusive. Two early 2000s studies of pregnant women in Northern California found that subjects exposed to stronger magnetic fields were more likely to miscarry^[4,5], but later studies suggested that the results had likely been confounded by physical activity – women who were more physically active were more likely to miscarry, and women exposed to stronger magnetic field were more likely to have been physically active^[6,7]. A different 2020 study, examining how magnetic fields from power lines affected women who visited a Massachusetts fertility clinic, found no statistically significant associations between exposure and pregnancy outcomes^[7].

A number of other studies have tested magnetic fields’ effects on animal reproductive systems, but results have also been inconclusive. According to a 2012 review paper, some studies have shown that low-frequency magnetic fields with maximum strengths between 14 and 200 µT can damage the reproductive systems of rodents and cows. But other studies found no effects when the same animals were exposed to low-frequency magnetic fields as strong as 500 µT^[8]. And in some studies that did show effects, scientists exposed the animals to magnetic fields for 16 hours or more per day – far longer than most people are likely to spend in their car^[8].

Electricity and magnetism are so vital to the modern world, yet the science of electromagnetism can seem arcane, its workings concealed from human eyes. The terms that scientists and engineers use in their work – like ‘electromagnetic fields’ and ‘electromagnetic radiation’ – can sound mysterious and otherworldly. It’s very easy to be misled by this sort of language. The best way to counter this is to see if a claim or a product has scientific backing from a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Conclusion

There’s no evidence to indicate that “EMF Rocks” will counter the electromagnetic fields in EVs – nor is there evidence that any mitigation is even needed. The magnetic fields in EVs are roughly equivalent to those near household electronics. Additionally, further research is ongoing on whether and how electromagnetic fields affect humans, but what evidence we do have does not suggest a link between infertility in humans and exposure to low-frequency magnetic fields like those in EVs.

References:

1. Vassilev et al. (2014) Magnetic Field Exposure Assessment in Electric Vehicles. IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.
2. International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (1998). Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Time-Varying Electric, Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields (up to 300 GHz). Health Physics.
3. Hjollund et al. (1999) Extremely low frequency magnetic fields and fertility: a follow up study of couples planning first pregnancies. The Danish First Pregnancy Planner Study Team. Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
4. Li et al. (2002) A population-based prospective cohort study of personal exposure to magnetic fields during pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage. Epidemiology.
5. Lee et al. (2022) A nested case-control study of residential and personal magnetic field measures and miscarriages. Epidemiology.
6. Savitz et al. (2006) Physical activity and magnetic field exposure in pregnancy. Epidemiology.
7. Ingle et al. (2020) Association of personal exposure to power-frequency magnetic fields with pregnancy outcomes among women seeking fertility treatment in a longitudinal cohort study. Fertility and Sterility.
8. Gye and Park (2012). Effect of electromagnetic field exposure on the reproductive system. Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine.