[dmoy]

In this case it's even what, 7000 or 8500lbs car? Which is even crazier when you consider road wear scales on the 3rd or 4th power of weight.

(Edit: 4th power, damn) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law

So a 8500 car does 64x as much road wear as my small sedan.

[infecto]

Wrong

https://twitter.com/ajisuzu1/status/1681123111364620294?s=46

TLDR; From a road wear perspective there is no real difference between a heavy EV and a lightweight smaller ICE.

Edit: Not sure why I get downvoted so heavily. It is just a fact that the weight difference between an EV and comparable ICE has no measurable difference to road wear.

People like the above poster just like to touch on the fourth power law but not how the calculations actually work.

ESAL is part of that calculation. A 5 axel semi has a ESAL of 2.35, a dumptruck ~4, a 3.5ton vehicle .004, a 3ton vehicle .002. When we are talking about the difference in hundreds of pounds between EV and ICE, there is no wear difference.

[huytersd]

No one can read that thread.

[sarchertech]

TLDR paved roads are generally designed to handle large trucks and construction equipment. On such roads passenger vehicles (even heavy electric vehicles) have a negligible impact on pavement life.

The difference in road wear between a 2k lbs. vehicle and an 8k lbs vehicle is too small to matter.

[dmoy]

Okay that makes sense, basically amdahl's law.

I guess it'll be interesting when we are trying to support electric medium duty or heavier trucks, like WA is trying to do. Guess they'll be subject to Class 7 & 8 weight anyways, because if you try to make a currently-medium-duty truck into an EV it's way over the limit.

I mostly just have doubts about our current revenue model scaling for it (since it's heavily reliant upon gas tax and the truck weight $$ amounts don't match up), and the general lack of lighter EVs in the US. Something will have to change there

I'd be totally happy in the city with a 2-2500 lbs BYD Seagull or whatever. But that vehicle doesn't exist in the US.

[vel0city]

A vehicle the size of a Seagull is practically a non-starter in the US in terms of mass-market appeal. Most US consumers think of the Chevy Bolt as too small of a car, and that's like 20" longer than a Seagull.

[dmoy]

Which is really a shame :/

I want a $10k small car for just intracity trips. Easier to park, small battery charges fast enough at home even on 120V 20A. Cheaper to insure.