The current administration has been bombarding the American public for years with the mantra that electric vehicles (EVs) are the answer to the world’s climate problems. Fraudulent studies from prestigious universities have been used to buttress these attacks. People who have questioned the foundational underpinnings of this scam have been scorned, ridiculed and otherwise neutered.
All of this propaganda ignores the problems with EVs. The US is dependent on unfriendly countries for the materials to make the batteries for these vehicles. The next issue is where will those batteries end up after their useful life is over?
Then there’s the fact that the nation’s grid simply can’t support all that recharging – California already has been sending out advisories for owners not to charge. And then there’s the limited range and extended recharging times, both worsened by cold weather.
These are just some of the items that have made it into the public consciousness. A new report in the Washington Times explains that those batteries are heavy, and EVs can weigh up to 50% more than internal combustion motor vehicles. And that’s a long-term problem that could have catastrophic consequences.
The weight damages roads, bridges and parking garages. The heavier vehicles easily plow through safety guardrails while, at the same time, posing a bigger danger to other drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists traveling the same routes.
When talking about parking structures, there had been a reduction in structural design requirements. This had come about because of the trend towards lighter vehicles. Auto and truck makers have been reducing weight through a variety of measures in order to meet mpg requirements from the federal government.
That reduction in structural design requirements may be threatened by the increasing weight of EVs. In January, a group of engineers writing for Structure Magazine warned parking garage infrastructure is threatened by an increase in weight of EVs such as the Ford F-150 Lightning, which at 8,240 pounds weighs nearly 1,800 pounds more than Ford’s best-selling, gas-powered F-150.
“Significantly increasing passenger vehicle weights combined with recently reduced structural design requirements will result in reduced factors of safety and increased maintenance and repair costs for parking structures,” the engineers wrote. “There are many cases of parking structure failures, and the growing demand for EVs will only increase the probability of failure.”
Then there are the roads and bridges. Eliminating many gas-powered vehicles and substituting heavier electric cars or SUVs could lead to crumbling residential roads and more frequent maintenance. More EVs could also shorten the lifespan of bridges, transportation engineers have warned, by adding to the stress, wear and tear of those structures.
So, once again our elite “experts” on the left side of the aisle have foisted on the public a “solution” for a problem that does not exist Iclimate change) and, at the same time, have made things significantly worse for most people.
How much worse can things get?