From the Milken Institute Review, February 6:
Moving more mass requires more energy, so heavier cars are a retrograde step on the road to a net-zero carbon world. Heavier cars do more damage when they hit something or someone. In the United States, where big pickups and SUVs reign supreme, pedestrian fatalities increased by 46 percent from 2010 to 2019. The electric versions may reduce carbon emissions, but they weigh even more: Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning weighs 6,500 pounds, at least one-third more than the gasoline version.
“I’m concerned about the increased risk of severe injury and death for all road users from heavier curb weights and increasing size, power and performance of vehicles on our roads, including electric vehicles,” Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said in a speech in January. She singled out General Motors’ EV Hummer, which weighs over 9,000 pounds. “The battery pack alone weighs over 2,900 pounds — about the weight of a Honda Civic,” she noted. “That has a significant impact on safety for all road users.”
Ever-heavier vehicles form a self-perpetuating loop of doom. People in small, light cars feel vulnerable amid the behemoths, so they buy bigger, heavier ones. Powering bigger cars requires bigger engines or bigger batteries, supporting them requires heavier suspension components, stopping them bigger brakes. So vehicles get heavier still. The energy density of lithium-ion storage is much lower than gasoline, so battery storage is bound to be a net loser on poundage. And on and on.
There is a solution: lightweighting. One of those rare technologies that means just what it says, lightweighting is the removal of excess avoirdupois through the use of lighter materials and more mindful design and manufacturing. It had a moment in the sun when the federal government’s corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards took effect, and auto manufacturers scrambled to shed pounds. Ironically, the shift to electric vehicles means car makers no longer need to worry about fuel economy and are not incentivized to spend money reducing weight.
“Once you go green with electric, there is no CAFE,” lamented Andrew Halonen, a lightweighting specialist with Mayflower Consulting. “With the Ford I own, the government helped push the weight down. As soon as Ford goes electric, CAFE goes away, weight goes to the moon and nobody cares.”
Simplify and Then Add LightnessLightweighting is nothing new, though the portmanteau seems to have emerged only in the last decade. Colin Chapman spoke the above aphorism in the early 60s and applied the concept to take Lotus Cars to five Formula One World Championships. Chapman’s road-going Lotus Elan weighed a scant 1,250 pounds; by comparison, the 2023 Mazda MX5 Miata weighs 2,341 pounds, and still manages to be the lightest car currently sold in the U.S.For most automakers, weight was a secondary consideration. But airframe manufacturers and bicycle builders have long embraced lightweighting, turning to increased use of aluminum, high-strength steels and carbon-fiber composites. A lighter aircraft can fly faster and farther on less fuel; a lighter bike makes the most of a rider’s single person-power....
....MUCH MORE
Huh.
Possibly related: "British parking association: weight of electric cars causes collapse of parking garages"
The electric F-150 is an interesting story, Ford is obviously aware of some of its problems:
How to power your house with the 2021 Ford F-150 hybrid generator
Electric Vehicle Prices Gone Wild: "The Cheapest Ford F-150 Lightning
It's not just the financing costs as Mr. Musk points out in the post immediately below.
The combination of historically high general inflation, extraordinary price increases for lithium and higher input costs (labor, electricity) for manufacturing means trouble for the mass roll-out of EV's. You will own nothing and enjoy walking....
And finally, circling back to MotorTrend and the Ford Lightning, they had another article on just how much juice you suck up doing truck stuff like towing:
Here's a rather stunning energy density factoid from MotorTrend:
...Before you hitch an Airstream to your electric truck and set out to circumnavigate the country, you need to understand this: With the largest available battery pack, a fully charged 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck has less energy onboard than a regular F-150 with four gallons of gas in its tank...That was in July. Despite the handicap MotorTrend just named the Lightning their Truck of the Year.
