| That's true, but gas consumption by weight is more of a linear function, while road wear follows the fourth power law by axle weight. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law As an example: A 2026 Honda Accord LX has a combined gas mileage around 32 mpg and a curb weight of 3,239 lbs. See: https://automobiles.honda.com/accord-sedan/specs-features-tr... A 2025 Ford F-150 XLT has a combined gas mileage around 20 mpg and a curb weight of 4,941 lbs. See: https://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150/2025/features-specs/ Keeping things simple and calculating the axle weight to the fourth powers of both vehicles, the F-150 causes 5.4x the road wear of the Honda Accord while using only 1.6x the gas. The reason this doesn't matter so much, though, is that the types of trucks used for shipping goods, when loaded, cause on the order of 10^4 the road wear, dwarfing any differences between standard commuter vehicles, which is why commercial trucks have to stop at weigh stations. |