Obviously, the Warmist solution is for Other People to be restricted from driving any privately owned vehicle
Pothole damage from electric cars is double that of petrol, Telegraph data show
Electric cars damage roads twice as much as their petrol equivalents, analysis has shown, as the pothole crisis grows on Britain’s roads.
Analysis by The Telegraph has found that the average electric car more than doubles the wear on road surfaces, which in turn could increase the number of potholes.
The country is suffering from a pothole crisis, with half as many filled last year compared to a decade ago amid an estimated £12 billion price tag to fill them all.
Road industry bodies have raised fears that electric cars could exacerbate the problem on residential roads. The number of electric cars being driven has tripled to 900,000 since 2019 ahead of the Government’s 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars as part of its net zero drive.
I really should have started keeping a list of all the problems from EVs, such as higher risk of fires that are difficult to put out, higher insurance rates, needing special fire trucks to put out their fires, the danger in parking decks from their much heavier weight and from fires, danger from accidents due to their higher mass, and so on.
Study: Here are the 10 fastest, and 10 slowest, states for adopting EVs
Electric vehicle adoption is and will continue to be a hot-button issue, both politically and economically, as the automotive world shifts to a new reality. That said, the changeover to electric vehicles won’t happen quickly, even with tantalizing government incentives and an array of new electric models. iSeeCars recently released a study on the growth of EV adoption over the past five years and found that buyers in some states are picking up more EVs while growth in other states has slowed.
Remember, much of this is being forced on consumers. The 10 fastest states, from highest, are Maryland, Virginia, North Dakota, Arkansas, Wyoming, Louisiana, New Jersey, Colorado, West Virginia, and Alaska. A very interesting list, eh? You wouldn’t expect some to be on there. How about the bottom 10 (the numbers are in growth over the past 5 years
- Georgia: 70%
- Michigan: 67.2%
- Kansas: 65.3%
- South Carolina: 64.1%
- Washington: 63.6%
- California: 63.5%
- Vermont: 53.1%
- New Mexico: 53.1%
- Oregon: 47.8%
- Hawaii: 43.7%
Of course, they want to make Excuses, but, really, you have Washington, California, Vermont, Oregon, and Hawaii being massive climate cult states which constantly climavirtue signal.
I recall similar discussions about how SUVs were tearing up roads disproportionately and therefore should pay a higher “use fee” for road maintenance. This logic ignores the mechanism that uses gasoline taxes to pay for roads all over the USA and the fact that the larger a vehicle is, the more gasoline it will use per mile of travel, and thus already pays more for taxes per mile.
Californian legislatures have also previously explored ideas like taxes based on miles driven, with cars needing recording and reporting devices, like GPS. Such measures were proposed to account for hybrids that were not paying their “fair share” of road taxes since their fuel economy was so good.
It does seem like electric vehicles are getting a free ride since they pay zero gasoline taxes and any electricity taxes do not go to pay for road funds. I am sure some accountant can figure out how to best charge EV owners for their fair share of road use, with full consideration given to vehicle weight.
Numerous states hav3 started collecting extra fees for EVs and some hybrids.
Texas is the latest.
After all the “rich” should pay their fair share, right?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2023/05/16/texas-ev-registration-fee-abbott/70224830007/
I agree and disagree at the same time. EV’s typically weigh more than typical ICE vehicles, however, this difference is probably inconsequential at the weight of typical passenger vehicles and light trucks as far as ‘roadway damage’ is concerned. The application of maximum torque at the starting of the vehicle may be a factor, particularly in warmer climates with asphalt pavements. Note the effect of municipal transit busses on warm city streets. Probably a larger factors are deferred maintenance and low quality initial construction. Any heavier vehicle will increase wear to a low quality pavement.
Don’t tell Johnny….
I can understand Vermont. Nobody wants an EV in the wintertime. The battery power loss will really cut the range. And if it’s low slung to deal with the extra weight, it will do poorly in deep snow.
And there are lots of small bridges on back roads in that state that won’t handle the weight limit needed, especially if there are multiple EVs on it at the same time.
Same for most of Michigan.