The United States is already a global leader in traffic-related fatalities, with a thirty-percent jump in the last decade. That’s in contrast to every other developed country, which saw a decline.

The electric Ford Lightning, for example, is a whopping 6,500 pounds. The Hummer EV is even heavier, clocking in at 9,000 pounds. Its battery alone weighs more than a Honda Civic. Experts have pointed out the significant safety ramifications of this transition for a while, but it’s still not clear that we’ve prepared the regulatory and policy landscape for such a transition.

Even if you don’t want a giant, extremely heavy EV, the tendency to purchase such vehicles creates an arm race for everyone interested in protecting their family on the road. That in turn causes a shift away from smaller EVs in a bid to feed the elemental materials needed for ever larger EV batteries.

“Norway, a pioneer in EV use, is considering a weight-based tax to steer buyers away from the fattest EVs (the Norwegian government recently eliminated EV purchase incentives). France already has one on SUVs. Buyers of new diesel and gasoline vehicles must pay a tax of €10 ($14.58) a kilo (2.2 pounds) above 1.8 tons. The weight threshold is to be reduced. EVs are exempt, but as those vehicles become heavier and more popular, it seems they will get swept into the weight-based tax net.”

A smattering of localities have tried to prepare for the threat. DC, for example, has imposed a creative vehicle registration fee schedule that has heavy EV truck and SUV owners paying higher registration fees than lighter EV sedans. But it’s an outlier.

  • paultimate14@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Interesting what I don’t see in this article. There’s a lot of different drivers for costs of car infrastructure maintenance. But one of the most important drivers is weight. It causes more stress on the road surface and decreases that lifespan.

    I agree with the article, just weird that they left out the most compelling argument for a weight tax on ALL vehicles.

    • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Something important to consider with regards to weight and road damage, damage is proportional to weight to the fourth power. A little extra weight means a lot more wear. This is also why we should be shipping most things by train, as trucks are absolutely annihilating the roads.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, and it comes up a lot when people say EVs aren’t paying their fair share and should have increased registration costs. The biggest hit on road maintenance is big trucks, and it’s not even close. We are all subsidizing this industry.

        • HerrBeter@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Diesel cars are 50kg heavier than EVs in general (maybe I can find the study again) and they’ve increased the most since 2012 in weight gained

          • AA5B@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Plus they always give as an example, that e-hummer that weighs 9,000 lbs. that just shouldn’t exist. Meanwhile most EVs are 1/3 that weight

            • socsa@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              It’s 9000 pounds and is faster than 90s supercars. It’s complete lunacy, and I’m actually quite scared of how much more dangerous it’s going to make driving.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Yep. No one wants ro talk about a real weight tax, because if they charged trucks their proportional share, shipping costs would go through the roof.

          • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Thay would be crazy, they would all be running at different intervals. You would need some system to link all the cars together, with a singular engine. An Onomotive or something like that, we can figure out the name later.

        • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          A bicycle can’t move without someone sitting on it pedaling, so I think it’s fair to include the weight of the rider.

    • huginn@feddit.it
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      1 year ago

      They should also raise the gas tax so it’s cheaper to own an EV.

      Make evs expensive, sure, but make gas more expensive.

          • mwguy@infosec.pub
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            1 year ago

            Because it’s easier to sell ending oil subsidies rather than raising gas taxes. Ending corporate subsidies has broad support among Americans.

            • huginn@feddit.it
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              1 year ago

              I was meaning it as the meme “porque no los dos” but yeah I get it.

    • geosoco@kbin.socialOP
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      That’s definitely true. It’s also a concern for a lot of infrastructure like parking garages and bridges.

      I suspect it’s left out because the site focuses on tech, but I’ve seen a few articles looking at that this year. I think some states already do licenses based on weight, though arguably it’s not enough.

      Apparently, there’s some loopholes that manufacturer’s are using to justify increasing weights (eg. this ), and a similar taxbreak from some recent legislation for cars over 6k lbs.

    • thepianistfroggollum@lemmynsfw.com
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      1 year ago

      I mean, there basically is, but it’s usually just factored it into something like gas taxes instead of having a specific line item for it. Since EVs don’t pay that tax, there needs to be a separate one somewhere.

      • paultimate14@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        In that US? Gasoline taxes don’t even cover the cost of cleaning up emissions, let alone paving the roads. It’s subsidized by other tax revenue.

    • Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You bring the tax in for EVs first, and conservatives will either not care or even cheer for it. A new tax on woke cars!

      Then after the next election you quietly extend it to all vehicles.