There’s nothing in your comment that actually backs the idea that EVs will make the problem significantly worse.
Yeah, batteries weigh a lot, but everything else weighs less. A battery can be a structural component, an ICE engine cannot.
I think you will find a bias towards heavier weight if you compare EVs and ICE cars actually sold. But in recent years car makers have focused mostly on crossovers/SUVs for EVs, because that’s where they make the most margins. VW launched their new line with ID.4, Hyundai with Ioniq 5, Kia with EV 6. But all of these car makers are launching smaller lighter models now. An EV SUV is heavier than an ICE, I’ll grant you that. We need a bit better energy density to make a reasonable light SUV, but a smaller car doesn’t have to be more heavy than an ICE equivalent.
I recently had to change tires on our old 2015 Kia Soul EV. Not because they were worn down, but because they’re too old. There still plenty of tread depth left. It has been driven a completely average amount in that period.
There are anecdotes from car fleet operators who say they don’t see any significant difference between their EVs and ICE.
I’m willing to bet that driving style can have much more impact, and EVs can go both ways. Due to high torque you can drive more aggressively and chew through tires. You’ll certainly find stories of EV drivers like this. But you can also enable ECO mode and one-pedal driving, which I’m sure will result in way less jerk on the tyres than what most people can achieve with an ICE cars. It’s really easy to drive super smoothly with EVs, and I think most people will prefer that style of driving. Especially if it becomes common knowledge that it saves both on energy cost and avoids premature tire replacements.
I’m not too worried about the long term trend here. Car makers have so many incentives to drive down the weight of battery packs as it has exponential impact on costs. There are several next generation battery chemistries in early stage production phases that can potentially eliminate the weight disadvantage for a reasonable battery size.
Yeah, batteries weigh a lot, but everything else weighs less. A battery can be a structural component, an ICE engine cannot.
I think you will find a bias towards heavier weight if you compare EVs and ICE cars actually sold. But in recent years car makers have focused mostly on crossovers/SUVs for EVs, because that’s where they make the most margins. VW launched their new line with ID.4, Hyundai with Ioniq 5, Kia with EV 6. But all of these car makers are launching smaller lighter models now. An EV SUV is heavier than an ICE, I’ll grant you that. We need a bit better energy density to make a reasonable light SUV, but a smaller car doesn’t have to be more heavy than an ICE equivalent.
I recently had to change tires on our old 2015 Kia Soul EV. Not because they were worn down, but because they’re too old. There still plenty of tread depth left. It has been driven a completely average amount in that period.
There are anecdotes from car fleet operators who say they don’t see any significant difference between their EVs and ICE.
I’m willing to bet that driving style can have much more impact, and EVs can go both ways. Due to high torque you can drive more aggressively and chew through tires. You’ll certainly find stories of EV drivers like this. But you can also enable ECO mode and one-pedal driving, which I’m sure will result in way less jerk on the tyres than what most people can achieve with an ICE cars. It’s really easy to drive super smoothly with EVs, and I think most people will prefer that style of driving. Especially if it becomes common knowledge that it saves both on energy cost and avoids premature tire replacements.
I’m not too worried about the long term trend here. Car makers have so many incentives to drive down the weight of battery packs as it has exponential impact on costs. There are several next generation battery chemistries in early stage production phases that can potentially eliminate the weight disadvantage for a reasonable battery size.