I read with great interest the recent texts on the tyranny of the individual car and the limits of the electric car (EV) as a tool for decarbonizing our way of life. I live in the region, and I own a small electric car, for all the reasons usually given to justify the acquisition of such an individual car: long distances to travel, collective transport not corresponding to my needs, decision to reduce my greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, etc.
I admit that my solution is far from optimal both for the climate and for urban sprawl, which is very present in my region in fact. But I firmly believe that my choice is valid as a transitional solution. However, there is one dimension that too often goes under the radar, and that is the accelerated increase in the size and weight of vehicles. This increase has significant effects on the use of our planet’s limited resources, on the safety of road users, on the wear and tear of infrastructure and on atmospheric pollution.
In an article in the December 2023-January 2024 issue of the journal Road and Track, columnist Brett Berk launches a real cry of alarm, which takes on its full meaning by being published in a magazine aimed explicitly at the automotive world. Over the last thirty years, the average weight of vehicles in the United States has increased by approximately 900 pounds (the figures are in imperial measurements, this is the United States), which is still appreciable.
However, with the arrival of SUVs and pickup electric, we are talking about a jump of almost 2000 pounds on average. The best-selling vehicle in North America, the Ford F-150, goes from 4,705 pounds with a thermal engine to 6,855 pounds with the Lightning electric version, a gain of 2,150 pounds. All the pickup and large SUVs are experiencing the same swelling, going up to the Hummer which is close to 10,000 pounds (9640)!
The laws of physics being what they are, a larger and heavier vehicle will exponentially increase the danger to occupants of a normal vehicle. In addition, the reduced visibility of drivers of such road monsters constitutes a significant danger for pedestrians and cyclists. From 2010 to 2021, pedestrian deaths in the United States increased by 77%, and the majority of these deaths are attributed to impacts with SUVs and trucks.
This picture is further clouded by the fact that new electric vehicles allow accelerations and speeds previously reserved for high-performance vehicles, such as muscle cars. Let’s not dwell on the superficiality and immaturity of this obsession with performance, except to point out that the majority of drivers have neither the skill nor the sense of responsibility to manage all this power, which adds an additional element of danger to these vehicles. The additional weight of new electric vehicles (and this applies even to the most reasonable in size, for example my Hyundai Kona EV weighs around 250 kilos more than the gasoline version) applies significant additional pressure on the road surface, and the risk of accelerated deterioration of our infrastructure is increasing, while we have not even been able to properly maintain our roads for a long time.
This increase in vehicle weight also generates accelerated tire wear, and therefore another type of danger, that of pollution by fine particles, responsible for numerous respiratory pathologies among others. However, the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) published in April 2021 an expert note with a counterintuitive conclusion: 59% of fine particles PM10 (with a diameter less than 10 µm) and PM2.5 (with a diameter less than 2.5 µm) do not come from the exhaust, but from brake abrasion and tire-road contact.
We then had very little data for electric vehicles, which wear out their tires much more quickly, and we mainly used data on thermal vehicles, so this percentage should be even higher for EVs, although the reduced wear of the tires brakes compensates a little for this balance.
The overall observation is inevitable: if we want the transition to electric automobiles to have a real effect on GHG emissions, while avoiding bringing with it its attendant dangers for other road users, pedestrians and cyclists, for road infrastructure, without increasing pollution by fine particles, without exerting unsustainable pressure on the resources of our planet alone, regulatory agencies and governments must immediately put in place measures (bonus type- penalties, quotas for large vehicles and others) in order to force manufacturers and consumers to take responsibility. We should certainly not count on the self-regulation of these actors, which has long demonstrated its total ineffectiveness.