Electric cars.

That is one of those urban myths. Multi-storey car parks are built to support the heaviest of vehicles and then some. There are some really heavy BEVs but most weigh no more than an SUV.

 

Whats a BEV.

 

A Battery Electric Vehicle. A Nissan Leaf, Tesla, one without an engine.

 

I wouldn't park in a car park full of them, especially in the multi storey's that were built decades ago.

 

When I first started driving, the cars I had back then had a kerb weight of around 2000kg. Some a bit under, some over. Nowadays cars of similar size are just over 1000kg. So if multistorey carparks could withstand being chock full of 1980s and 90s cars, I'm sure they can cope with today's lighter cars. Yes batteries are heavy, but everything else is lighter.

 

A comparison to the Triumph I owned many years ago....

The Triumph 2000 TC weighs 1184 Kg / 2610 lbs.

The average weight ranges from 2723 lbs to 5390 lbs. The Tesla weight variation is due to different models.

The weight of the Nissan Leaf varies depending on the trim and model year, ranging from 1474 kg (3256 lbs) to 1788 kg (3946 lbs).

 

Like a lot of things in the UK, we have an ageing stock of multi-story car parks.
It does not matter what drives the car, over the years cars have got bigger and heavier.

According to numerous sites the top 5 selling EV cars in 2021 were 148% heavier than the top 5 selling cars in 1960.

The institution of structural engineering has set out new guidelines on multi-story carparks for future construction and maintenance of existing car parks, I copied and pasted the following.

It reflects the significant changes to vehicular size, weight and manoeuvrability in recent years, to offer modern guidance on parking bay sizes and deck loadings. Hybrid and electric vehicle use, together with the need for inclusive design and a far greater emphasis on sustainable solutions, have necessitated a completely new approach to internal layouts and other requirements for structural design — including the minimisation of fire spread.

 

Older cars were also quieter.

 

Yes, that is about right, but then you have to take into account, PHEV, MHEV and HEV also have a Combustion engine. From the 1st Jan to the end of March 2023 the share of market sales of BEV is 15.4%, which is exactly the same market share for the period in 2022. For petrol the market share is exactly the same at 42.6% with diesel market share dropping to 4% from 5.7%. The growth in market share is with the hybrids, yet the PHEV market share is decreasing, which surprised me. So even though there has been more units of BEV car sales, there is no increase in market share. Looking at market percentage share, hybrids are the future.

I am not surprised that the sales of diesel cars is in decline, when my lad fuels up the wagon tomorrow with diesel I will be billed @ £1.296 inc vat, yet those without a fuel card will pay £1.589 at the very same garage.

 

I should of pointed out, these new guidelines came out after the safety commissioners report after the fire that engulfed the Liverpool multi story carpark, where over a thousand cars were destroyed. Modern cars are larger and heavier, regardless of the powertrain. Even ICE vehicles tend to have larger fuel tanks compared to vehicles built in the past. Then also the materials that are used in modern cars is different than in the past, more plastic and electrical components are used in modern cars. All these factors when taken in to account mean that a fire is more likely to spread to other vehicles.

Lessons of Liverpool car park blaze have not been learnt, safety body warns | New Civil Engineer

 

I see the Swedish coalition party has voted to reduce the amount of bio fuel in petrol and diesel from the 1st January 2024 to help tackle the cost of living crisis. Currently petrol has 7.8% biofuel in the mix and 30.5% biofuel in diesel. This will now be reduced to 6% and will reduce diesel by SEK 5.5 which is 43p a litre at the pumps.

A Canadian reporter wrote a policy book "Dream States" reporting on smart cities and automation. When looking deeper into our transition from fossil fuels, the speed at what governments and businesses are pushing makes for uneasy findings. Most people agree the need to reduce our carbon foot print, but as this reporter points out. The rush to go electric has the potential result of unsustainable costs and unnecessary damage to the environment.

I know some on here have mentioned the huge profits that these oil companies are making, but it's these policies to speed up our transition to go electric that is fuelling these profits and the cost of living crisis.

 

I dont understand that last line, how is going electric making the oil companies more profit.

 

Shell & BP are doing alot more elecy charging points so lets make as much money/porfit as we can

So we are the one's that are paying to get these charging points in place