The Shift to EVs: A Darker Side to the Trend

The U.S. car industry and the car buying public are being pushed towards building and purchasing more electric vehicles (EVs) every year. Between the Biden administration’s tax credit scheme for EV buyers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) tightening Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements, and California’s incoming 2035 ICE ban, the shift towards EVs is in full swing. However, safety campaigners believe that the U.S. government’s policies are putting pedestrians and cyclists in danger.

The Darker Side of the Trend

As The Atlantic suggested in a recent article on the topic, the environmental hype around EVs (and the promise of new jobs) is so strong that the darker side of the trend is being pushed out of view. The sheer size of the latest EVs might make it hard to spot vulnerable people either walking or cycling. Americans have been buying increasingly large gas-powered trucks and SUVs for years, and safety advocates have long pointed out that the weight of these vehicles combined with their height puts pedestrians (and even drivers of smaller cars) at risk. Factor in the colossal weight of a battery pack, and things get much worse.

EVs’ Weight Problem

EVs have, by design, always been heavier than the equivalent combustion-powered car. However, the overall weight of the first generation of electric cars was constrained by the fact that they were cars. The new EVs coming through are mostly SUVs and pickup trucks, which are far more profitable for automakers than traditional cars. If the U.S. government is concerned about the risk to pedestrian safety these new jumbo EVs pose, it’s not letting on.

The Rate of Deaths on America’s Roads

The rate of deaths on America’s roads is twice that in Europe, which subjects new cars to a broader range of tests. While American tests focus on the safety of the people inside the subject vehicle, European tests have ratings for things like pedestrians and cyclists to analyze the threat to those that vehicle might hit.

Possible Solutions

Some in the U.S., such as the District of Columbia, have taken action to make it more expensive to own heavier vehicles. However, that’s only going to make a very small dent in the problem. As The Atlantic’s David Zipper says, the only way to stop EVs from getting bigger and heavier is for the government to step in, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon.

Conclusion

The shift towards EVs is in full swing, but safety campaigners believe that the U.S. government’s policies are putting pedestrians and cyclists in danger. The sheer size of the latest EVs might make it hard to spot vulnerable people either walking or cycling. The overall weight of the first generation of electric cars was constrained by the fact that they were cars. However, the new EVs coming through are mostly SUVs and pickup trucks, which are far more profitable for automakers than traditional cars. The only way to stop EVs from getting bigger and heavier is for the government to step in, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon.