It means that if weight on a vehicle’s axle is doubled, it does 16 times the damage to the road. The analysis uses the “fourth power formula”, which is widely used by highways engineers and researchers to assess the damage caused to road surfaces by heavier vehicles.
This is because they must carry heavy batteries, which can weigh up to 500kg. They found that the electric vehicles were on average 312kg heavier than similar petrol versions. Researchers divided them by size, including small electric cars weighing over 1,000kg, such as the BMW Mini Cooper SE 3 Door and Peugeot e208, medium models over 1,500kg such as the Ford Focus Electric and Vauxhall Corsa-e, and larger vehicles including the Jaguar I- pace EV and Audi e-tron 50 Quattro. The Telegraph used analysis led by the University of Leeds which assessed the weights of 15 popular electric car models alongside their petrol equivalents. If these are not fixed, then these expand and eventually develop into potholes. Such stress on roads causes greater movement of asphalt, which can create small cracks. Larger electric vehicles weighing over 2,000kg (2 tons) cause the most damage, with 2.32 times more wear applied to roads.
The Telegraph found that the average electric car puts 2.24 times more stress on roads than its petrol equivalent, and 1.95 more than diesel. The number of electric cars being driven has tripled to 900,000 since 2019 ahead of the Government’s 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars as part of its net zero drive.Īs many as four in five miles could be driven by electric cars by 2035, according to estimates by the Department for Transport. Road industry bodies have raised fears that electric cars could exacerbate the problem on residential roads. The country is suffering from a pothole crisis, with half as many filled last year compared to a decade ago amid an estimated £12 billion price tag to fill them all.
Electric cars damage roads twice as much as their petrol equivalents, analysis has shown, as the pothole crisis grows on Britain’s roads.Īnalysis by The Telegraph has found that the average electric car more than doubles the wear on road surfaces, which in turn could increase the number of potholes.
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