Posted on 01/31/2024 5:24:37 PM PST by george76
Electric vehicles that typically weigh more than gasoline-powered cars can easily crash through steel highway guardrails that are not designed to withstand the extra force, raising concerns about the nation’s roadside safety system, according to crash test data released Wednesday by the University of Nebraska.
Electric vehicles typically weigh 20% to 50% more than gas-powered vehicles thanks to batteries that can weigh almost as much as a small gas-powered car. And they have lower centers of gravity. Because of these differences, guardrails can do little to stop electric vehicles from pushing through barriers typically made of steel.
Last fall, engineers at Nebraska’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility watched as an electric-powered pickup truck hurtled toward a guardrail installed on the facility’s testing ground on the edge of the local municipal airport. The nearly 4-ton (3.6 metric ton) 2022 Rivian R1T tore through the metal guardrail and hardly slowed until hitting a concrete barrier yards away on the other side.
“We knew it was going to be an extremely demanding test of the roadside safety system,” said Cody Stolle with the facility. “The system was not made to handle vehicles greater than 5,000 pounds.”
...
The extra weight of electric vehicles comes from their outsized batteries
...
So far, we don’t see good vehicle-to-guardrail compatibility with electric vehicles
...
The concern over the weight of electric vehicles stretches beyond vehicle-to-vehicle crashes and compatibility with guardrails, Brooks said. The extra weight will affect everything from faster wear on residential streets and driveways to vehicle tires and infrastructure like parking garages.
“A lot of these parking structures were built to hold vehicles that weighed 2,000 to 4,000 pounds — not 10,000 pounds,”
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
So ev’s will cripple an already crumbling infrastructure?
Oh, just wait until the tolls have to double or triple because of the increased road wear.
People are gonna love it.
And if you think the fires are bad with electric cars, wait until a truck battery ignites. Under a bridge.
Usually it's not an issue because rarely you see a parking garage that's above 50% capacity.
Maybe we’ll luck out. Trump wins. It’ll be the end of the EV craze (at least for a couple of decades)
Parking garages across the US could be at risk of collapse over the weight of heavier electric vehicles, experts warned, as one such garage fell in Lower Manhattan, killing one person and injuring five.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4146781/posts
Oh just look at all the contract to replace guardrails and parking structures. The graft opportunities are endless.
NO it amounts to Natural Selection to weed out any electric car buyer?
Well its a concern
But they should also then be concerned with the fact more and more trucks and suvs are driving around too, as many are more than 5000 pounds.
“ Maybe we’ll luck out. Trump wins. It’ll be the end of the EV craze (at least for a couple of decades)”
You think someone can snap their fingers and fix something already in motion and laws enacted for years and years and billions upon billions of dollars? It doesn’t work that way
Tesla S: 4900
Tesla Y: 4416
Suburban: 6120
Semi Cab: 25,000
Many of the previous factories have already been closed and shuttered. Personnel has been laid off dispersed or reassigned. Untold billions already spent and lost changing over. It’s simply too late
5 axle semi tractor and trailer allowed up to 80,000, on the federal interstate system .
States issue over weight permits.
And the laws on over weight permitted vehicles vary by state.
F-150: 6500 lbs
“..Electric vehicles typically weigh 20% to 50% more than gas-powered vehicles...”
Sir Isaac Newton wouldn’t like this, it would take 50% more energy to move the mass and another 50% to slow it down. Add in the higher cost of electricity (often coal power) this is not going to go over well when libtards finally figure these things out. Plus the pollution caused from mining the resources, the coal and NG and a little nuke plus the battery recycling along with Xiden’s inflation you have quite the poor investment.
And certain states like CA have already passed their own set of laws to top it all off.
80k is gross.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.