, Columnist
Electric Vehicles Are Getting Bigger and Heavier. Why?
EVs don’t have to be massive. Smaller, more efficient cars would consume fewer resources and make roads a lot safer.
Why so heavy?
Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
The brilliant thing about technology is how it tends to become smaller (and cheaper) over time. One glaring exception has been the most expensive piece of kit many of us buy: the automobile.
Due to the popularity of bulbous, gizmo-laden SUVs and pickup trucks — some driven no further than a supermarket parking lot — modern vehicles have piled on the pounds in the past three decades. And the shift from combustion engines to electric vehicles is poised to make this weight problem even worse, at least in the short term, as the lithium-ion battery packs used to power EVs are bulky and heavy.