Electric vehicles weigh more than their internal combustion engine counterparts, and that has implications for maintenance, safety and even pollution.
The additional weight of EVs is a challenge for automakers today looking to increase at least half of their sales to be all-electric by the end of the decade. They see the prices increase on raw materials and fear a shortage of them in the future. EV batteries require structures that can hold the additional pounds. But the heavier vehicles also have implications for owners and, some say, society, too.
Take Ford Motor Co.’s F-150 Lightning pickup, which starts at 6,015 pounds. That’s 22% more than the 4,950-pound curb weight, which includes a full tank of gas, of the equivalent traditional F-150. Meanwhile, the starting weight of an electric Hyundai Kona is 28% heavier than the gas-powered model, and the Nissan Leaf is 35% heavier than the starting weight of its gas-powered equivalent, the Versa.
