All these articles are important, but they end up missing the point of the auto industries weightiest concern.
At the end of the day, it really comes down to the weight of the vehicles. There is absolutely zero justification for any standard-use car to weigh more than 3,200 pounds, and that's for a SUV.
More weight affects EVERYTHING.
Material logistics/sourcing/shipping/construction costs and emissions/waste-disposal, end-product shipping/distribution/operating-costs and emissions/repairs/waste-disposal, as well as infrastructure construction/maintenance. That's just hard costs. I could go on in more granular fashion and add soft costs like less traffic and less road noise as well.
I drive a very loaded gasoline powered Fiesta hatchback. It's got cruise control, a great entertainment system with car play, even stupid neon lighting I didn't want. It weighs only 2,600 pounds and even though it isn't fast, I don't have any issues getting up to speed. My mileage is consistently 29 in LA traffic and 34 driving fast on long highway trips. It's nearly 2 feet (22 inches!!) shorter than a Camry and I can park it basically anywhere. Because it weighs so little, tires last forever. It cost me less than $20,000 brand new. My point is that a freaking heavy and large 3,400lb sedan, or 4,500lb SUV is 100% supremely unnecessary.
Multiply hundreds or thousands of weight savings per-car over millions and millions of new cars sold in the US alone would insanely positive and tangential effects on the planet. Eventually those gains would reach the economy and infrastructure too.
It just infuriates me that there is a relatively simple way to mitigate so many issues and it's so blatantly ignored or not even known.
Isn't one of the biggest reasons to drive a very large car safety? Unless everyone starts driving light weight cars, it seems to me that anyone who does would be putting themselves at risk in the case of an accident.
I'm not so much meaning safety technology as raw size. To give an extreme, in a collision between a full size SUV and a Smart Car I would expect the driver of the SUV to be more likely to survive.
Unnecessary for you and your usage, but there a lot of situations, environments, and applications where a heavier, larger vehicle is necessary. If you live rural you aren't driving a small Fiesta hatchback everywhere. If you have a large family, an SUV is a basic requirement of modern living to move the family around.
Conversely if you live in a city with tight quarters as a single person with no kids, an SUV or pickup may not be necessary at all.
There is a reason we don't dictate choice or consumption with something as necessary and basic as transportation because it isn't one size fits all. People buy what they generally need.
"Basic requirement for modern living" – what an absurd claim to justify a SUV. I wonder how people in most non-US countries even get by, if the basic necessities of life aren’t met. /s
It's totally understandable that someone as individual contractor might need a bulky pickup to haul construction materials, and I don't take issue with that.
As for SUVs they will obviously be heavier, sure, but how much more value does a Cadillac Escalade provide at over 5,000 pounds compared to an XT4 that weighs, 1,600lbs less? And then how frequently is that value actually utilized?
Rubbish. Go to South Africa and they're driving around in small hatchbacks. Farmers drive pickups (bakkies), but normally sized ones. There's simply no way those monstrous things are a "basic requirement". You are so out of touch with how most people live.
The rural poor still drive Cavaiers and whatnot. You absolutely "can" drive a Fiesta (or some other compact) if you live somewhere rural. It just is a standard of living below what most people expect in 2020.
People have the money to buy things that they want and makes their lives easier so it's no surprise that they do.
At the end of the day, it really comes down to the weight of the vehicles. There is absolutely zero justification for any standard-use car to weigh more than 3,200 pounds, and that's for a SUV.
More weight affects EVERYTHING.
Material logistics/sourcing/shipping/construction costs and emissions/waste-disposal, end-product shipping/distribution/operating-costs and emissions/repairs/waste-disposal, as well as infrastructure construction/maintenance. That's just hard costs. I could go on in more granular fashion and add soft costs like less traffic and less road noise as well.
I drive a very loaded gasoline powered Fiesta hatchback. It's got cruise control, a great entertainment system with car play, even stupid neon lighting I didn't want. It weighs only 2,600 pounds and even though it isn't fast, I don't have any issues getting up to speed. My mileage is consistently 29 in LA traffic and 34 driving fast on long highway trips. It's nearly 2 feet (22 inches!!) shorter than a Camry and I can park it basically anywhere. Because it weighs so little, tires last forever. It cost me less than $20,000 brand new. My point is that a freaking heavy and large 3,400lb sedan, or 4,500lb SUV is 100% supremely unnecessary.
Multiply hundreds or thousands of weight savings per-car over millions and millions of new cars sold in the US alone would insanely positive and tangential effects on the planet. Eventually those gains would reach the economy and infrastructure too.
It just infuriates me that there is a relatively simple way to mitigate so many issues and it's so blatantly ignored or not even known.