It’s Incredible How These Smallish EVs Weigh More Than These Huge Old Gas Cars

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I know it’s not exactly news to state that electric cars are heavy. Really heavy. Batteries are heavy things, and it makes you realize just how spoiled we are when it comes to fossil fuels. Think about it: liquid gasoline has about 100 times the energy density of a lithium-ion battery, and as that gasoline is used, the weight – about eight pounds per gallon – goes away. Not so with an EV battery, which weighs as much full as empty. Gasoline was such a huge springboard for humanity and automotive development, being energy dense enough to deal with wildly inefficient engines and crude overall design and still work. So, thank you, gasoline!

Lithium batteries are incredible technology, but if they have an Achille’s heel, it’s their weight. Well, and how slow they can be to charge. And the danger of thermal runaway. But that’s it! They’re still amazing. Amazing and heavy.

This heaviness isn’t really obvious, either; there’s a lot of modern EVs that aren’t that big, size-wise, but are actually quite dense, and if you actually look at the numbers, they’re, you know, big. But to really viscerally appreciate just how heavy this whole crop of modern EVs are, I think you need some kind of familiar comparison. And I don’t mean using a bunch of units of weight that somehow we’re expected to know, like 75 spiral-sliced hams or a six dozen full water cooler bottles – I mean comparing these new EVs to older combustion cars.

Especially smaller EVs, because the comparisons are even more dramatic. So, with that in mind, I’ve selected five small-to-midsize EVs and compared them with big-ass land yachts or vans that they, visually improbably, outweigh. And then I compared one full-size electric SUV to a modern small camper, just for fun.

Here, be wowed!

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It’s weird to realize this, right? That Fiat 500e weighs more than the Dodge minivan? It’s like half the size! That Toyota with the dumb name is heavier than a freaking Town Car? A Tesla Model 3 weighs more than a Cadillac Fleetwood Brough-motherfucking-ham! And the Hummer being heavier than a whole freaking motorhome, even though it lacks a toilet or kitchen or beds? Madness! All of physics as I’ve understood it feels upended!

How can this be? But it very much is. EVs may be the future, and that future is looking very, very heavy. 

 

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Mercedes Streeter

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161 thoughts on “It’s Incredible How These Smallish EVs Weigh More Than These Huge Old Gas Cars”

  1. All the more reason to find a way to tax EVs in an equivalent way to fuel tax. They are just as damaging, if not more so to the roads than their IC counterparts.

  2. All the more reason to find a way to tax EVs in an equivalent way to fuel tax. They are just as damaging, if not more so to the roads than their IC counterparts.

  3. I have a pet conspiracy theory about why the Hummer EV is so heavy.

    American automakers (and increasingly, the North American branches of Japanese and Korean automakers) have dropped every subcompact from the Fit to the Fiesta in favor of larger, heavier, faster vehicles with higher margins that they can justify by saying “bigger is better.” But recently, we’re seeing a ton of economic and environmental pressures that could increase uptake of small cars (domestic or foreign) and force a reversion to the mean.

    So here’s the theory: The purpose of the Hummer EV (and similar ultraheavy/ultrafast electric trucks) is to make the road seem more hostile. Even with just a limited presence on the road, they generate headlines about how deadly the roads are becoming, and that just makes people think twice about buying a subcompact.

    …It could also be that I’m reading too much into it and the Hummer EV is 9000lbs because the H1 was 8800lbs. But I prefer my version, lol.

  4. I have a pet conspiracy theory about why the Hummer EV is so heavy.

    American automakers (and increasingly, the North American branches of Japanese and Korean automakers) have dropped every subcompact from the Fit to the Fiesta in favor of larger, heavier, faster vehicles with higher margins that they can justify by saying “bigger is better.” But recently, we’re seeing a ton of economic and environmental pressures that could increase uptake of small cars (domestic or foreign) and force a reversion to the mean.

    So here’s the theory: The purpose of the Hummer EV (and similar ultraheavy/ultrafast electric trucks) is to make the road seem more hostile. Even with just a limited presence on the road, they generate headlines about how deadly the roads are becoming, and that just makes people think twice about buying a subcompact.

    …It could also be that I’m reading too much into it and the Hummer EV is 9000lbs because the H1 was 8800lbs. But I prefer my version, lol.

  9. Just for some perspective, my first car, 20 years ago, was a 2005 (Mk II runout) Fiat Punto, that was about 3.6m long, 1.6m wide, and weighed about a tonne. A few years after that I bought a 1989 Toyota Camry (V20), which was a metre longer, roughly the same width, and weighed about a tonne.

    Most of the weight difference is down to safety equipment, and the knock-on effects of carrying around more weight, like bigger brakes. I’m fine with that.

    What I can’t accept as easily is the growth in width, which doesn’t have anything like the same justification. The Camry was a comfortable 5 seater. My current 5 series is at least half a metre wider, for no good reason.

  10. Just for some perspective, my first car, 20 years ago, was a 2005 (Mk II runout) Fiat Punto, that was about 3.6m long, 1.6m wide, and weighed about a tonne. A few years after that I bought a 1989 Toyota Camry (V20), which was a metre longer, roughly the same width, and weighed about a tonne.

    Most of the weight difference is down to safety equipment, and the knock-on effects of carrying around more weight, like bigger brakes. I’m fine with that.

    What I can’t accept as easily is the growth in width, which doesn’t have anything like the same justification. The Camry was a comfortable 5 seater. My current 5 series is at least half a metre wider, for no good reason.

  11. The intended takeaway from this article is that many newer electric cars are ludicrously heavy, which is true.

    The more useful takeaway from this article is that stereotypically heavy old land yacht American cars aren’t actually that heavy, and never were, and auto journalism has been lying to you for several decades.
    For example: some fullsize pickups weigh less than a Nissan 350z, which has two seats.

  12. The intended takeaway from this article is that many newer electric cars are ludicrously heavy, which is true.

    The more useful takeaway from this article is that stereotypically heavy old land yacht American cars aren’t actually that heavy, and never were, and auto journalism has been lying to you for several decades.
    For example: some fullsize pickups weigh less than a Nissan 350z, which has two seats.

  13. Ok. Modern ICE cars are much heavier than older ones. They are also much more efficient, more powerful, faster, and handle much better. Oh, and much safer!

    1. As mentioned above, my 19 Ram is 4400#. My 82 F-150 with the 300 I6 and manual transmission weighed 4200#. And also demonstrating the dishonesty of the media, my Ram is narrower and shorter than the old F-150. Same with my old 1998 Quad Cab 4×2 Ram. It was 6″ LONGER and 200# heavier than my wife’s current 2018 Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4×4 and both have the 6’5″ bed. But you must fear the GIANT MODERN TRUCKS that endanger everyone!!!

      1. I have no beef with with trucks. They’re fun to drive and useful. But I don’t put them in the same category as cars.

        The only pickup mentioned in this article is the Hummer, which is ridiculously heavy.

        My first vehicle was a 73 Chevy C10 work truck. The only frill was an AM radio. While it was quite low, the hood was flat all the way from the windshield to the front end. After that, pickup noses began to slope toward the front. IDK why, but today, truck noses are again very high and straight. That makes visibility an issue.

        Anyway, back to work.

  14. Ok. Modern ICE cars are much heavier than older ones. They are also much more efficient, more powerful, faster, and handle much better. Oh, and much safer!

    1. As mentioned above, my 19 Ram is 4400#. My 82 F-150 with the 300 I6 and manual transmission weighed 4200#. And also demonstrating the dishonesty of the media, my Ram is narrower and shorter than the old F-150. Same with my old 1998 Quad Cab 4×2 Ram. It was 6″ LONGER and 200# heavier than my wife’s current 2018 Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4×4 and both have the 6’5″ bed. But you must fear the GIANT MODERN TRUCKS that endanger everyone!!!

      1. I have no beef with with trucks. They’re fun to drive and useful. But I don’t put them in the same category as cars.

        The only pickup mentioned in this article is the Hummer, which is ridiculously heavy.

        My first vehicle was a 73 Chevy C10 work truck. The only frill was an AM radio. While it was quite low, the hood was flat all the way from the windshield to the front end. After that, pickup noses began to slope toward the front. IDK why, but today, truck noses are again very high and straight. That makes visibility an issue.

        Anyway, back to work.

      1. Calm down, I’m pretty sure Nick was just making a joke referencing the old famous song “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” from The Hollies and Neil Diamond.

      1. Calm down, I’m pretty sure Nick was just making a joke referencing the old famous song “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” from The Hollies and Neil Diamond.

  21. I think I heard it from our author and have always remembered that BZ4X is pronounced “bizzy forks”. Those will always be, to me, a pair of forks wildly stabbing at a lone meatball each seeking it’s prize. That is what I think about whenever I see one.

    Then I wish I had meatballs.

    So do electric Toyotas lead to overindulgence in Italian cuisine?

  22. I think I heard it from our author and have always remembered that BZ4X is pronounced “bizzy forks”. Those will always be, to me, a pair of forks wildly stabbing at a lone meatball each seeking it’s prize. That is what I think about whenever I see one.

    Then I wish I had meatballs.

    So do electric Toyotas lead to overindulgence in Italian cuisine?

  23. With all the modern safety features and the EV technology, I’m honestly kinda surprised the 500e doesn’t even weigh that much more than the Caravan.
    Sure, it’s nearly 600 pounds more than an older gasser 500, but 42 pounds more than a minivan built in the 80’s? Where they were still building them out of the thinnest steel possible? Eh, kinda impressive tbh.

  24. With all the modern safety features and the EV technology, I’m honestly kinda surprised the 500e doesn’t even weigh that much more than the Caravan.
    Sure, it’s nearly 600 pounds more than an older gasser 500, but 42 pounds more than a minivan built in the 80’s? Where they were still building them out of the thinnest steel possible? Eh, kinda impressive tbh.

  25. And that is why EVs produce more pollution through brake dust and tire wear than their ICE and hybrid counterparts. They don’t really “save the environment”, they just chose a different poison.

    1. That is such an old fashioned take. Nobody has bought an EV or hybrid because they think it ” Saves the environment” in at least a decade or more.

    2. The brake dust thing is simply wrong. The vast majority of braking in EVs is regenerative so they produce very little dust. As for tire particles, I don’t believe anyone has studied whether an EV’s tire wear (compared to an equivalent ICE vehicle) offsets the reduction in other pollutants (including brake dust!), but it’s sure interesting that nobody really cared about tire particles until it became a convenient attack on EVs designed to create FUD among people most likely to consider buying one.

      1. The tire thing is because the instant electric torque is shredding tires not designed for instant massive torque. Don’t drive like my brother and tires wear just fine. That also helps with range.

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