The path to total electric vehicles in America got off to a promising start. When Tesla burst onto the scene, electric cars were considered exotic and cool, and many folks jumped right in, often without researching the vehicles sufficiently beforehand. Often, after months of waiting, Tesla owners received their expensive green toys only to realize that they didn’t perform as advertised, were prone to malfunction, or were just not practical and regretted their purchases.
When Biden took office and vowed to end fossil fuels, the push for total electricity began in earnest. With mandates and deadlines in place, as well as money diverted to prop up the industry, it was assumed the general public would hop aboard. Unfortunately, the technology has outpaced the infrastructure, and consumers have given the cold shoulder to EVs.
Tesla has slashed prices on many of their vehicles, and other manufacturers are struggling with quality issues and supply chain issues due to the exotic nature of some parts. Despite issues producing the vehicles, they still continue to sit unsold on many dealers’ lots, leading hundreds of dealers to draft an open letter to Biden requesting a ‘pause’ on EVs.
Naturally, none of this has moved the needle with Joe Biden, as the Democrats continue to force-feed Americans mandates and deadlines. As quality, parts, and apathy continue to affect sales and the production of the vehicles, new issues are popping up with regularity, and they aren’t all about the actual vehicle. New tests are showing a certain feature of some electric vehicles can be more than the road can handle.
Electric vehicles weigh significantly more than gasoline-powered cars, and a test released Thursday suggests they could be a safety hazard on most of our current highways. Specifically, highway guardrails may not be up to the task of stopping an electric vehicle. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility did crash testing with a four-ton 2022 Rivian R1T, and what they found was alarming.
The Rivian pickup crashed through a standard metal guardrail before crashing into a concrete barrier. Researchers said this: “We knew it was going to be an extremely demanding test of the roadside safety system. The system was not made to handle vehicles greater than 5,000 pounds.” Guardrails line tens of thousands of miles of road in America, and the test was being done to see if they could hold up to a super-heavy vehicle.
The weight disparity between electric and gas is significant. EVs typically weigh almost 50 percent more than gasoline-powered cars, and they also have lower centers of gravity due to the placement of the batteries. The resulting weight not only puts added strain on the road, but also a mismatch for guard rails. Ultimately, the study determined America’s roadside safety system is not capable of handling more than 5,000 pounds.
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The Biden Administration has built exactly no charging infrastructure and now will be tasked with figuring out the guardrail issue as well. Will there be any need? American drivers don’t want the costly vehicles; our roads aren’t equipped for them, and we have no place to charge them. Sounds like another well-thought-out plan by the Biden White House.
Featured image screen grab from embedded YouTube video