Roadshow Looks At Why Electric Vehicles' Extra Weight Is Bad

EVs can have a good few hundred pounds over a comparable ICE vehicle.

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Feb 4, 2022 at 10:43am ET

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Aside from the usual much talked-about electric vehicle problems, most of which have to do with charging and range, there is one issue that hardly anybody talks about: EVs’ extra weight. An electric vehicle may not necessarily have a bigger footprint, but it’s always going to be considerably heavier than an ICE vehicle its size.

One great example of this is the new BMW i4, which is the battery-powered version of the new 4 Series Gran Coupe. The latter weighs around 1.6 - 1.7 tons, while the i4 BEV can exceed 2.1 tons and it’s all down to the battery.

There is one bit of good news for EVs and their extra weight - it’s all concentrated really low in the vehicle, so it makes them feel planted and surefooted. And the BMW i4 is a good example of this, because even in EV guise, with a big battery and taller suspension, it still handles extremely well thanks to its low center of gravity (which is lower than in the ICE) model.

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Roadshow’s Brian Cooley looks at how this extra weight negatively affects EVs in this video. He talks about the safety of electric vehicles too, noting that in being heavier, they are also more dangerous to other road users in the event of an accident.

Extra road wear is another EV trait that may not immediately come to mind. The taxes you pay for EVs may not necessarily be destined for road repairs or improvements, while most of the fuel tax paid by ICE drivers is used towards that. In other words, EVs are causing more wear on the infrastructure, but they are actually paying less to maintain it.