Last June (2021) my car was getting its annual service at Glenford and I asked a member of staff their thoughts about electric vehicles.
They told me that Glenford have had to put in heavier ramps due to electric powered cars weighing up to 50% heavier than an equivalent petrol an diesel powered vehicle.
This extra weight in electric powered vehicles will likely cause more potholes in the U.K. roads.
There is also a problem with electric powered cars travelling on car ferries which have a mezzanine deck.
The mezzanine deck on the MV Finlaggan can hold up to 18 cars. However with electric powered cars weighing up to 50% higher means that only 12 electric powered cars can be safely carried on its mezzanine deck.
I enclose the minutes of the Islay Community Council meeting held on 18th May 2022 and you should pay particular attention to
Item 9 ICC Ferry Committee and the section headed Electric Vehicles (EVs). https://www.islaycommunitycouncil.or...a4307ceb34.pdf
Included in this section is a piece about the batteries of electric powered cars combusting.
The management of Calmac have been in contact with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) about this problem.
In my opinion all electric powered vehicles should be banned from sailing on all Calmac ferries until the MCA have decided what to do.
So an electric mini weighs 50% more than a range rover?? What about luggage,does that make a difference?
Also can you provide details on the number of electric cars that have spontaneously combusted,and the number of petrol cars that gave gone up in flames in the last 10 years?
And potholes...not caused by lorries or buses, just electric cars....
Maybe we should all go back to the horse and cart......
Islay won't answer except to say you're wrong, you've misunderstood his point or that you've only addressed part of his argument. He's done his research by speaking to a mechanic and he now knows for fact that with electric vehicles being 50% heavier than their petrol / diesel equivalents they are causing all the pot holes and could overload the (run by Scottish Goverment therefore baaaaaaad) Calmac ferries.
He might even point out that since horse and cart have steel rimmed wheels they're likely to cause even more damage to the roads that EVs with their rubber ones.
Facts are facts remember and once Islay establishes the facts there's no disagreeing.
The point is that if all cars have to be electric and use the current battery systems then the weight of exactly the same cars will increase by 30% -50%.
It is interesting to consider how the present regime copes with the weight of different petrol and diesel cars. As you say what about the current difference in weight between a Mini and a Range Rover? If 20 Range Rovers booked do Calmac have a booking plan to make sure they don't go on the mezzanine deck? These are questions Islay could find an answer for, I imagine.
You have hit the nail on the head!
Not only are these electric vehicles a lot heavier than a petrol or diesel powered vehicle their engine does not make a noise.
People crossing the road do not hear an electric vehicle coming because their engine is silent.
In my opinion electric vehicles will soon be dubbed the silent killers.
Tyre manufacturers are having to produce special tyres to take the increased weight of the electric vehicles.
If there is a crash involving an electric vehicle and a petrol or diesel powered vehicle there are no prizes for guessing that the petrol or diesel powered vehicles will come off worst.
Sadly there is no chance of the politicians banning these electric vehicles as they think that they are gong or save planet. Meanwhile the Scottish Government have not been counting all the CO2 emissions throughout Scotland since 2010 if not before by ignoring the CO2 emissions from one major sector.
However that is worth a separate topic on its own!
Your reply to my post is another case of selective word blindness by you.
I posted that the extra weight of electric powered vehicles will likely cause more pot holes.
I also quoted the information from the minutes of the Islay Community Council meeting held on 18th May 2022 concerning the article in the press about the batteries of electric powered cars combusting.
At present when the Gleaners petrol or diesel tanker sails on the Calmac ferry from Kennacraig to Islay it has to be situated in a part of the vehicle deck well away from other cars and commercial vehicles as a safety issue.
If there is a combustion problem with battery powered vehicles then they will have to either be situated well away from other vehicles or preferably banned from sailing on Calmac ferries until their safety can be 100% guaranteed.
If a vehicle goes on fire which happened in the cab of an HGV in mid passage on the MV Finlaggan sailing from Kennacraig to Port Askaig in December 2019 it can have serious consequences including a loss of life due to the remainder of the ferry going on fire.
I should know as we were sitting at Port Askaig pier waiting for our sailing to Kennacraig when the fire engine based in Bowmore Islay arrived at Port Askaig pier with its blue lights flashing.
I saw the badly burnt cab of the HGV which had been removed from the MV Finlaggan after it docked at Port Askaig pier as I drove our car onto the vehicle deck of the MV Finlaggan. You could still smell the smoke in the air from the fire.
Needless to say the news about this lorry cab fire on the MV Finlaggan ferry during its sailing from Kennacraig to Port Askaig was suppressed and covered up by the bosses at Calmac Ferries, Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government because they do not allow bad news to be published if they can help it.
The Calmac staff on the vehicle deck including the mezzanine deck receive details of the expected weight of all the vehicles sailing on that ferry during the crossing.
This allows for the vehicle deck to be balanced and to ensure that the ballast operations prior to each sailing are correct. My car has been on the mezzanine deck for a sailing and their is a mix of all sizes of cars on the mezzanine deck.
However small, medium and large size electric powered cars will each be up to 50% heavier than the equivalent petrol or diesel powered car.
Hybrid cars also have larger batteries than a petrol or diesel powered cars.
The Secretary of Islay Community Council is also a member of the Calmac Communities Board of Directors and he told me in an email that he has raised my concerns about the heaver weight of electric vehicles sailing on Calmac ferries compared to petrol and diesel powered vehicles at their latest board of directors meeting and it should be quoted in the minutes of their meeting. https://www.calmac.co.uk/ferries-community-board
First off,they are not 50% heavier,I checked. One model has a 10% difference between petrol and electric,but that does not include the weight of the fuel. Or any passengers. Second,they do make a noise,any electric car made after 2019 must make a noise,and the car creates one. And of course, because they have a driver,he can see the idiots who step out without looking. Tyre manufacturers make special tyres for electric vehicles but not for weight reasons, as the weight difference is pretty negligible but to reduce noise inside the car.
And in other news, Queen Victoria is dead.