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> ... large and heavy vehicles... Aside from the safety problems (for pedestrians & cyclists, not the driver of course), these trucks also wreck city streets, w

> ... large and heavy vehicles... Aside from the safety problems (for pedestrians & cyclists, not the driver of course), these trucks also wreck city streets, which are not designed for them. The best selling trucks in America, the F150 and the Chevy Silverado, are lighter than a Tesla S.

paxys 5y ago
Okay..? So all three are very heavy.
- fastball 5y ago
  True, we should start a program to get everyone a GMA T.50 – kerb weight of < 1,000 kg!
PpEY4fu85hkQpn 5y ago
The 4th Power Rule tells us that they are all doing bonkers amount of damage to roads. It's especially terrible considering very few truck owners actually use them for anything more than single-user commutes. Trucks are such horrible deadly things for cities and should be either banned or prohibitively taxed for anyone who doesn't need them. https://insidescience.org/index.php/news/how-much-damage-do-heavy-trucks-do-our-roads https://insidescience.org/index.php/news/how-much-damage-do-... https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-size-pickup-truck-you-need-a-cowboy-costume https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-siz...
- Accujack 5y ago
  They are doing far, far less damage than heavy trucks, such as semi tractor-trailers or even box trucks with significant weight inside. Even so, the goal here is to spend the resources to permit movement of goods and people... not to limit traffic to those vehicle types that do the least damage to the road. The road is there to be used, not admired. If you really want 0 damage, work toward legalizing hovercraft on national highways.
  - PpEY4fu85hkQpn 5y ago
    > They are doing far, far less damage than heavy trucks, such as semi tractor-trailers or even box trucks with significant weight inside. Why on earth do you think it's ok to compare the damage done by industrial freight vehicles to personal transportation?
helsinkiandrew 5y ago
Presumably that's mostly because of batteries - the electric F150 weighs a whopping 6,500 lb - 1500 lb more than the heaviest Tesla S.
api 5y ago
That’s a counterintuitive thing about current generation EVs: they are heavy. Those huge batteries weigh a lot. Regenerative braking helps reduce the extra energy cost of this quite a bit by recycling a decent percentage of the kinetic energy you put into moving that big heavy thing. The weight does have some safety and handling benefits under some conditions but it does probably do more road damage. As EVs grow states will probably have to charge a “road fee” or something, but it will still be far less costly than gasoline fuel and all the extra maintenance an ICE requires.
api 5y ago
Side note but the F-150 Lightning is as important to the EV revolution as the Tesla Roadster and Nissan Leaf were years ago. Rednecks will stop scoffing at EVs once they find out what instant full torque means. Days worth of on site power for job sites or camping without generator noise is also pretty badass.
- WorldMaker 5y ago
  That's what this article about Rivian's R1T is about too: Rivian's 4-wheel motored truck (and its SUV form factor brother the R1S) are going blow some minds among my redneck cousins. 4WD is nice, but 4-wheel Motored, with instant full torque at each wheel and each wheel can have its own torque for the offroading task, is a dream they probably don't even know they have yet.

paxys 5y ago

Okay..? So all three are very heavy.

fastball 5y ago
True, we should start a program to get everyone a GMA T.50 – kerb weight of < 1,000 kg!

PpEY4fu85hkQpn 5y ago

The 4th Power Rule tells us that they are all doing bonkers amount of damage to roads. It's especially terrible considering very few truck owners actually use them for anything more than single-user commutes. Trucks are such horrible deadly things for cities and should be either banned or prohibitively taxed for anyone who doesn't need them. https://insidescience.org/index.php/news/how-much-damage-do-heavy-trucks-do-our-roads https://insidescience.org/index.php/news/how-much-damage-do-... https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-size-pickup-truck-you-need-a-cowboy-costume https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-siz...

Accujack 5y ago
They are doing far, far less damage than heavy trucks, such as semi tractor-trailers or even box trucks with significant weight inside. Even so, the goal here is to spend the resources to permit movement of goods and people... not to limit traffic to those vehicle types that do the least damage to the road. The road is there to be used, not admired. If you really want 0 damage, work toward legalizing hovercraft on national highways.
- PpEY4fu85hkQpn 5y ago
  > They are doing far, far less damage than heavy trucks, such as semi tractor-trailers or even box trucks with significant weight inside. Why on earth do you think it's ok to compare the damage done by industrial freight vehicles to personal transportation?

helsinkiandrew 5y ago

Presumably that's mostly because of batteries - the electric F150 weighs a whopping 6,500 lb - 1500 lb more than the heaviest Tesla S.

api 5y ago

That’s a counterintuitive thing about current generation EVs: they are heavy. Those huge batteries weigh a lot. Regenerative braking helps reduce the extra energy cost of this quite a bit by recycling a decent percentage of the kinetic energy you put into moving that big heavy thing. The weight does have some safety and handling benefits under some conditions but it does probably do more road damage. As EVs grow states will probably have to charge a “road fee” or something, but it will still be far less costly than gasoline fuel and all the extra maintenance an ICE requires.

api 5y ago

Side note but the F-150 Lightning is as important to the EV revolution as the Tesla Roadster and Nissan Leaf were years ago. Rednecks will stop scoffing at EVs once they find out what instant full torque means. Days worth of on site power for job sites or camping without generator noise is also pretty badass.

WorldMaker 5y ago
That's what this article about Rivian's R1T is about too: Rivian's 4-wheel motored truck (and its SUV form factor brother the R1S) are going blow some minds among my redneck cousins. 4WD is nice, but 4-wheel Motored, with instant full torque at each wheel and each wheel can have its own torque for the offroading task, is a dream they probably don't even know they have yet.