Pothole damage from electric cars is double that of petrol, Telegraph data show

Electric SUV [image credit: electrichunter.com]

Britain’s residential roads are not designed to cope with large numbers of such heavy vehicles. But they’re coming anyway.
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Electric cars damage roads twice as much as their petrol equivalents, analysis has shown, as the pothole crisis grows on Britain’s roads, says the Daily Telegraph.

Analysis 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.

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.

Road industry bodies have raised fears that electric cars could exacerbate the problem on residential roads. 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.

As many as four in five miles could be driven by electric cars by 2035, according to estimates by the Department for Transport.

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. Larger electric vehicles weighing over 2,000kg (2 tons) cause the most damage, with 2.32 times more wear applied to roads.

Such stress on roads causes greater movement of asphalt, which can create small cracks. If these are not fixed, then these expand and eventually develop into potholes.

The Telegraph used analysis led by the University of Leeds which assessed the weights of 15 popular electric car models alongside their petrol equivalents.

Full article here.