One estimate reckons 1 in every 20 UK bridges is ‘substandard’. Road surfaces and tyre wear must also be affected. More unintended consequences of climate obsessions and so-called green policies.
– – –
Councils should check the weight limits on bridges to ensure they don’t collapse with heavier electric cars travelling across them, ministers have suggested.
The news comes after concerns were raised that multi-storey car parks might collapse if too many electric vehicles (EVs), which can weigh as much as 33 per cent more than traditional petrol cars, are parked on them, says The Telegraph.
Tory MP Greg Knight asked in the Commons whether Transport Secretary Mark Harper or other Cabinet colleagues might assess the “adequacy of the strength of multi-storey car parks and bridges at safely bearing the additional weight of electric vehicles”.
Transport minister Jesse Norman said that it was up to councils to decide whether “weight limits” should be applied to their bridges.
Mr Norman replied: “Local highway authorities are responsible for maintenance and management of their respective local highway networks, including any bridges that they own.
“It is for local authorities to decide what weight limits, if any, should be applied to any of their bridges because of the type or structural condition of the bridge or its inability to support heavy vehicles.”
33 per cent heavier
Sir Greg told The Telegraph that councils could check the specification of the plans for the bridges when they were constructed to ensure they can support the extra weight of the vehicles.
He said: “Electric vehicles can be up to 33 per cent heavier than the equivalent petrol propelled vehicle and it is important that those, who ensure our roads and bridges are safe, factor them into account.
“I don’t want to see reduced weight limits. But we don’t want to see accidents happening. This is something that needs to be looked at.”
Full article here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
[…] Sheer weight of electric vehicles could sink our bridges […]
Carmageddon: the Electric Car Fiasco
8 MAY 2023
To summarise, electric car owners have discovered in the past week alone that their cars may lose their value twice as quickly as non-electric vehicles, that free charging points are rapidly disappearing from our roads and if they park their Tesla in a multi-story carpark it might well collapse. Who knew virtue-signalling would prove to be so costly?
You’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/05/08/carmageddon-the-electric-car-fiasco/
. . .
It would be easier to be amused if the compulsion element was scrapped.
Nahh! no electric cars today or tomorrow – t he wind ain’t blowing much the now – so have to fill those BIG batteries first before we can fill the wee batteries in the we heavy carrys. They thought it all well out, didn’t they: Those city GLOBS. Look at Gridwatch this now.
[…] From Tallbloke’s Talkshop […]
The thing to do is to stop using cars altogether. That would do it. People need more exercise.