We definitely need to rethink some things with electric cars. One is taxes for roads. You're gonna have to replace gas tax and possibly even increase taxes overall since the extra weight of electric cars mean more road wear and tear (proportional to the power of 4 as another commenter mentioned). Safety is another one. We've already been seeing an increase in pedestrian deaths with one of the main reasons being increased in vehicle size and weight. Add in the fast acceleration of electric cars and their extra extra weight and the problem is going to continue to get worse. A Toyota 4runner weighs about 4500lbs and a Rivian R1S weights about 7000lbs with a 0-60 time that's 2.5x faster than the 4runner. Letting people drive a 7000lbs car with huge blind spots and the acceleration of a Corvette on a standard passenger car drivers license is pushing irresponsible in my opinion.
> possibly even increase taxes overall since the extra weight of electric cars mean more road wear and tear
I've already commented elsewhere about this, but I find it odd that as soon as EVs gain popularity, suddenly people care about the weight of cars. A Ford F-250 peaks at 7,660 lbs. and those have been around forever. I'm not saying it's wrong to consider weight, but I am saying this all smacks of vague EV hate.
> You're gonna have to replace gas tax
Texas is doing this just by increasing the price to register an EV.
> Texas is doing this just by increasing the price to register an EV.
Not just Texas: a lot of states that have weight- or value-based registration fees, and thus are already charging EV owners more (because EVs both cost more & weigh more than traditional vehicles). In California, the registration fee on the $20k price difference is about the same as the gas tax on typical milage.
And I agree that this smacks of vague anti-EV sentiment. Where were the gas tax concerns about plug-in Prius drivers?
>And I agree that this smacks of vague anti-EV sentiment. Where were the gas tax concerns about plug-in Prius drivers?
Changing the tax structure because of one car model with limited popularity isnt worth it. As the fraction of electric cars on the road increases the need to adjust taxes increases.
Sure, but the point is that large, heavy consumer vehicles have been extremely popular for decades (see: F-150, the most popular vehicle in the USA, which weighs substantially more than most EVs).
Where was the concern with weight then? Or is your argument that the low efficiency of those vehicles compensated (through increased fuel consumption and this higher taxes) for their weight?
You're projecting some collective you are imagining in your brain onto me as an individual. I had that concern then and I have it now. I hate the trend of common passenger vehicles getting bigger every year.
Yes, you're not the first one to express this concern and this thread is addressing the concern in general, not you specifically -- and surmising that the recent emergence of this concern is a result of some vague anti-EV sentiment given that weights have been increasing for years yet the general concern is expressed more frequently only more recently.
> I've already commented elsewhere about this, but I find it odd that as soon as EVs gain popularity, suddenly people care about the weight of cars
Because it's the "best" option. EVs don't use gas; so, a gas tax won't apply. The other option, other than weight, that usually gets mentioned is mileage. In order to measure mileage, though, some sort of tamper-proof counter needs to be installed and periodically read, something most people find wold be too intrusive. The weight is easy to record when the car is registered.
Because whatever the reason, we should have taxed gas cars to death yesterday. For a start, any mitigation effort against the impact of ICE's emissions on climate will make all countries bankrupt pretty quick.
