Featured How BEV's may be dangerous to smaller lighter vehicles is an accident

That too.

 

We are talking of EV trucks in the 8000 pounds range... And the USA is full of trucks. If they all start to weigh 2x what they weigh now, see above... (let alone the fact that they also have 2x-3x the HP of a regular gas truck... I see people launching...to the stratosphere...)

 

I can see it both ways. Cars are always weighing more and more. I used to drive cars that were under 2,000 lbs. So yes, there are disadvantages (like road wear and more destruction when you crash) but there are also advantages. I do miss my sub-2,000 lbs cars though. Modern cars weigh too much to be any fun to drive. Maybe I'll get a Miata when the kids move out.

 

The unit used to represent traffic forces on a road during design is Equivalent Single Axle Load. It is the weight that one axle with two wheels applies to the road. An ESAL of 1 is equal to 18,000 pounds. One axle of a 4,000 pound car has an ESAL of 0.0003

Roads aren't designed for passenger cars. They are designed for commercial trucks.

Equivalent Single Axle Load – Pavement Interactive
"Heavy trucks and buses are responsible for a majority of pavement damage. Considering that a typical automobile weighs between 2,000 and 7,000 lbs (curb weight), even a fully loaded large passenger van will only generate about 0.003 ESALs while a fully loaded tractor-semi trailer can generate up to about 3 ESALs (depending upon pavement type, structure and terminal serviceability)."

For roads designed to handle 3000 times or more wear than what a single car can inflict, another thousand pound on the car isn't noticed. Maybe the heavier car can lead to more wear of the surface coating, but then so does heavier and more frequent rain. The cost difference between a car and light duty truck for registration fees I've seen is more than is justified by weight difference to road wear.

 

... and we must remember that:
(*) road weight damage varies with the 4th power of axle weight;
(*) our major highways are built for trucks weighing 80,000 pounds or more.

Compared to those heavy trucks -- lots of them, too -- that 4,000 pound SUV is negligible. It does need lane space, so needs to pay for added lanes and other congestion mitigation, but doesn't measurably add to road weight damage.

 

If it means my 1900lb and 900lbs cars become registration exempt I’m all for it.

 

That is correct because the Tesla OEM tires are performance with low wear rating. Replacing them with 60,000 mi rated tires works just fine. It was one of my first mods and since longer rated tires don't wear so quickly, they often have lower rolling resistance. I did the same with my previous Prius.

Bob Wilson

 

me too. i replaced the oems at 50,000 because one was making a thumping noise, with michelins.

35,000 miles later, the michelins look brand new