David Zipper"We need a weight tax on vehicles, including one on electric vehicles, to encourage cars of all types to become lighter and less damaging to the environment, roads and pedestrians."
Agreed!
ErnstGucker@davidzipper Yes and No. I guess it depends much on where you live.
If you introduce a weight tax now, people will not switch to electric and keep polluting the environment. Car makers lose the incentive to produce electric cars.
Better would be a mix of toll and power consumption tax for spent kWh. People would quickly realize what car is necessary. This supported with good public transport might help the humans living in cities.
If you introduce a weight tax now, people will not switch to electric and keep polluting the environment. Car makers lose the incentive to produce electric cars.
Better would be a mix of toll and power consumption tax for spent kWh. People would quickly realize what car is necessary. This supported with good public transport might help the humans living in cities.
Mike D@ErnstGucker @davidzipper
I agree in theory that a combination of things need be enacted in order to push people away from ICE vehicles but a nuanced approach will take decades.
Something needs to be done sooner. ICE vehicles are subsidizing infrastructure used by both. In the US that infrastructure is already in need of repair.
Morgan ⚧️@ErnstGucker @davidzipper I think it probably depends on the specifics of the tax. Perhaps they could be easier on EVs than gas cars to account for necessary extra weight, but still tax those that take no care whatsoever to lighten their load
Stewart Russell@ErnstGucker @davidzipper road wear is proportional to the axle load raised to some absurd power — either to the 4th or the sixth power. Vehicle mass is an appropriate measure for taxation, although very little vehicle tax is hypothecated towards the resources they use
joel b@davidzipper somehow I know this will get equally applied to my 300 lb dual sport that I ride a few times a month.
Eric LawtonI agree with the idea, but that headline ableist insult is atrocious.
Dan Morgan 
@davidzipper @chris We do for trucks that haul things based on size class. Certainly needs to be applied to SUVs and other heavy vehicles built on a “half ton” frame.
CHB@DanMorgan @davidzipper @chris Maybe also have those SUV/Pickups in the same category regarding driver license as trucks and not as a ordinary car? Base the tax on weight and CO2-emissions.
@stadsplanering @davidzipper @chris Getting and maintaining a CDL is a headache. Bubba MAGA legislator would never go for it. Weight is the key metric to encompass heavy ass electric vehicles that will damage roads more than my tiny crossover.
Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸@DanMorgan @stadsplanering @davidzipper Now I'm curious. I'd like to compare weights. What's your crossover weigh? My 2019 Hyundai Kona EV is listed as: 1685kg
https://www.guideautoweb.com/en/makes/hyundai/kona/2019/specifications/electric-preferred/
@chris @stadsplanering @davidzipper My gas Equinox 4464 lbs or ~2025 kg. The Tesla Model X is 1000 (420kg) lbs heavier. Same class.
Another comparison:
Ford F150 Pickup (“½ ton” class)
Gas: 4700 lbs/2100kg
Electric: 8250 lbs/3742kg
The Ford F150 is often cited as the most popular vehicle in the US. Nearly doubling the weight in its move from gas to electric.
Kelsey Jordahl@DanMorgan @chris @stadsplanering @davidzipper I don't think the F150 Lightning is *that* heavy! That looks like the max *gross* weight, which includes 2000 lbs payload capacity. Still heavy, but not double.
https://tfltruck.com/2022/01/news-2022-ford-f-150-lightning-weighs-less-than-you-may-think/
@kajord @chris @stadsplanering @davidzipper
Under Dimensions: Gross weight doesn’t include anything it is pulling or in the bed.
https://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150-lightning/2022/features-specs/
Under Dimensions: Gross weight doesn’t include anything it is pulling or in the bed.
https://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150-lightning/2022/features-specs/
@DanMorgan @chris @stadsplanering @davidzipper gross weight does include the max payload in the bed. Compare with the standard cab F150: (https://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150/2023/st-401955483/features-specs/)
4465 curb weight+ 1785 max payload = 6250 gross weight. Unfortunately the Lightning spec page doesn't list curb weight explicitly.
4465 curb weight+ 1785 max payload = 6250 gross weight. Unfortunately the Lightning spec page doesn't list curb weight explicitly.
@kajord @DanMorgan @stadsplanering @davidzipper specification weight is curb weight, nothing inside or pulling.
mjc0961@DanMorgan "Getting and maintaining a CDL is a headache"
GOOD
That means less people buying these giant heavy trucks and SUVs that they can't see out of and crushing pedestrians and smaller cars.
Ned Yeung@davidzipper Agreed, but it'll be hard to pass when people are so misinformed that they're still screaming for cyclists to "pay for their own roads", with no understanding that it is in fact their own heavy road usage and associated costs which are being subsidized by light road users and mass transit users who pay the same taxes as everybody else, while contributing a negligible amount to public costs. We need education to combat disinformation.
@davidzipper I would love to drive an electric car, but I hate that all my options are giant overpriced trucks, giant overpriced SUVs, Teslas, or Nissan Leafs that don't have battery warming for winter.
Someone make a small lower range EV like the Leaf but put in proper battery conditioning, PLEASE. 😭
Mike Kraft@davidzipper or we could just regulate weights. Probably more straightforward
pmcm@davidzipper you can make this point without sharing a fat-stigmatizing headline.
Rob HoneycuttThat's a fantastic idea!
Stephen Cerruti@davidzipper gas taxes are effectively a weight based tax. We are incentivizing the transition to EVs so we are currently not placing an energy tax which would tax both weight and inefficiency (I'm looking at you Hummer.) So, no, we don't need a weight tax.
We should decentivize vehicles with tall hoods at the time of sale as that would be a meaningful way to reduce pedestrian deaths.
Thekick@davidzipper you got my vote!!!
slootInstead, our brilliant premier did away with plate renewal fees.