4 ms·

Not to mention how these heavyweights will crush the hell out of our highways. Road damage is to the 4th power of axle weight. Will a fleet of electric cars an

Not to mention how these heavyweights will crush the hell out of our highways. Road damage is to the 4th power of axle weight. Will a fleet of electric cars and trucks we will be spending a huge amount on new concrete and tar. Both are significant CO2 sources.

uejfiweun 4y ago
I mean anyone who legitimately drives an EV to help the environment is deluding themselves. Not only is car pollution a negligible fraction of overall emissions, but it's far more harmful and resource intensive to get materials required to make EVs, and there are plenty of second order effects such as this and power generation required that result in even more emissions.
- josephcsible 4y ago
  This is basically the Big Oil propaganda line, and it's been pretty thoroughly debunked. EVs are way more environmentally friendly than ICE vehicles over their lifespan.
josephcsible 4y ago
One semi-truck does the damage of over 200 Hummer EVs. As long as semis are allowed on highways, I think the effect you're describing will be negligible, especially since the really heavy EVs like that are expensive luxury ones, and the mass-market ones are all way lighter.
- ianschmitz 4y ago
  200? Did you pull that number out of a hat? The hummer EV is around 9100 lbs. If we assume the higher end of GVWR for a tractor trailer at 80,000 that’s 8.8 hummer EVs. Tractor trailers are also typically size limited not weight limited for their loads, which would bring down the ratio much further. Lastly having the weight distributed to many more tires (typically 18) instead of 4 must ease the load on the pavement, no?
  - josephcsible 4y ago
    > Did you pull that number out of a hat? Damage to roads is proportional to the 4th power of axle weight, which is about 4500 pounds for the Hummer EV and about 17000 pounds for a semi, and (17000/4500)^4 is a little over 200.
    - ianschmitz 4y ago
      TIL! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law

uejfiweun 4y ago

I mean anyone who legitimately drives an EV to help the environment is deluding themselves. Not only is car pollution a negligible fraction of overall emissions, but it's far more harmful and resource intensive to get materials required to make EVs, and there are plenty of second order effects such as this and power generation required that result in even more emissions.

josephcsible 4y ago
This is basically the Big Oil propaganda line, and it's been pretty thoroughly debunked. EVs are way more environmentally friendly than ICE vehicles over their lifespan.

josephcsible 4y ago

One semi-truck does the damage of over 200 Hummer EVs. As long as semis are allowed on highways, I think the effect you're describing will be negligible, especially since the really heavy EVs like that are expensive luxury ones, and the mass-market ones are all way lighter.

ianschmitz 4y ago
200? Did you pull that number out of a hat? The hummer EV is around 9100 lbs. If we assume the higher end of GVWR for a tractor trailer at 80,000 that’s 8.8 hummer EVs. Tractor trailers are also typically size limited not weight limited for their loads, which would bring down the ratio much further. Lastly having the weight distributed to many more tires (typically 18) instead of 4 must ease the load on the pavement, no?
- josephcsible 4y ago
  > Did you pull that number out of a hat? Damage to roads is proportional to the 4th power of axle weight, which is about 4500 pounds for the Hummer EV and about 17000 pounds for a semi, and (17000/4500)^4 is a little over 200.
  - ianschmitz 4y ago
    TIL! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law