Unexpected Electric Vehicle Problem: Too Heavy (EV) Car and Engineering Problem for Risk of Collapse Building
Unexpected Electric Vehicle Problem: Too Heavy (EV) Car and Engineering Problem for Risk of Collapse Building
Experts fear deteriorating parking lots could collapse under the weight of heavy electric vehicles
In the 1940s, the average car weighed ~ 2500 pounds. Today, the average gasoline SUV weighs 4-5000 pounds. When they start selling more electric SUVs, they’ll weigh 7,000 - 9,000 pounds.
April 17th, the roof of a parking garage has collapsed in Lower Manhattan. The collapse happened around 4:15 p.m. at Ann and William streets. Firefighters are working on reaching the victims but are navigating the unstable building and hazardous conditions from gasoline and potentially explosive car parts. 1 Died.
Records show there are open hazardous building violations from 2008 for cracks in the concrete.
Nearly 2 years ago, on June 24, 2021, at approximately 1:22 a.m. EDT, Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, United States, partially collapsed, causing the death of 98 people.
As the popularity of electric cars grows, some experts are concerned that the heavy weight of electric vehicles could cause multi-level parking lots in the UK to collapse.
Due to the aging infrastructure of many parking garages in the country, engineers said that the amount of weight the buildings can hold should be raised and that maintenance of parking lots should be improved, according to a report by The Telegraph.
"I don't want to be too alarmist, but there definitely is the potential for some of the early car parks in poor condition to collapse," Chris Whapples, a structural engineer and car park consultant, told The Telegraph.
Steve Holmes, senior technical manager at building supply firm Sika, also told the news outlet that many parking lots in the UK had structural flaws "baked in" due to a general lack of maintenance.
Electric vehicles are significantly heavier than gasoline-powered cars, given the weight of the batteries necessary to power them.
Ford's F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, for example, is 2,000 to 3,000 pounds heavier than the same model's non-electric version, according to the Associated Press.
The UK government's ambition is to have at least 50% of cars electric by 2030, and as many as 70% of new car sales – and up to 40% of new van sales – should be ultra-low emission.
Whapples and Russell Simmons, chair of the British Parking Association's structures group, have suggested new guidance that recommends adding higher load-bearing weights to deteriorating parking lots to help adapt to the weight of electric cars. It will be published in the next few weeks, according to The Telegraph.
This is not the only cause for concern when it comes to the mass of the vehicles. Earlier this year in the US, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board said there are many safety concerns when electric cars collide with lighter ones.
Over the years, electric cars have become increasingly popular due to energy efficiency and the promise of a more environment-friendly form of transportation. Drivers of these vehicles still face challenges, however, including driving range and the amount of time it takes to recharge the car's battery.
When Elon says Tesla is the only automaker that could sell cars for zero margin today and makeup for it in autonomy earnings later, here's why that matters. Autonomous mobility platform operators will be a Goliath in the future auto value chain, worth much more than OEMs alone. Tesla is aiming to have a Cybertruck (around 12k pounds weight) delivery event in Q3. Riskier for a lot parking structure.
European Autos tanking today (pun) after Elon Musk declares market share war. Takeaway from Tesla earnings yesterday is that the company is focused on market share at expense of margins. More price cuts in the sector to come? VW -2%; BMW -2.3%; Stellantis -3.8%; Renault -6%