The architecture of an electric SUV is a complex system involving batteries, motors, sensors, electronic controls, auxiliary equipment, wiring, housing and other components. The batteries that power the majority of EVs rely on raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. Mining for these resources has its own environmental impact. Finally, larger vehicles will require suitable charging stations, which in turn puts stress on our electric grids.
When shopping for a gasoline-powered car, consumers often focus on miles per gallon. Plug-in vehicles, by contrast, don’t use mpg as a metric; an EV’s energy consumption is measured in kilowatt-hours per 100 miles (160km). Bigger cars require more kilowatt-hours: an electric sedan, for example, requires roughly half as many kilowatt hours as does an electric SUV, according to Petropoulos.
That’s not to say EVs aren’t still a better climate choice than conventional cars. “While EVs’ production is more carbon-intensive than that of gas-powered cars, this difference quickly disappears; a car with an internal combustion engine produces emissions over the course of its lifetime, whereas an EV does not,” says Laura LoSciuto, leader of the Battery Circular Economy Initiative at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado. “EVs are an overall net win emissions-wise, even if the grid on which it relies is powered by fossil fuels…. [Our] transportation system needs to be electrified, period, despite the issues with car culture,” he says.
Rising US road deaths
Electric SUVs are equipped with bigger batteries because these vehicles have higher power needs. But EV (and conventional) SUVs are also geared toward better performance, meaning it’s not just the weight and size of these vehicles that affects traffic safety – it’s the way they’re driven too. “We can attribute some of the dangers of these bigger cars to the behavior of the consumers,” says Petropoulos. “They want to accelerate faster, which requires more battery power.”
The New York Times recently highlighted the “exceptional American” problem of rising road deaths. Roadways are becoming safer in many developed countries across the world, but not the United States.
Some design trends may not be helpful. Many newer, behemoth models have high hoods, which pose distinct safety hazards. A US study of nearly 18,000 crashes involving pedestrians found that SUVs and vans with a hood height greater than 40in inches (102cm) were about 45% more likely to cause fatalities than those with a height of 30in (76cm) or less.
Another study of 3,400 vehicle crashes in the US where a pedestrian was struck found a link between the front-end vehicle height and the risk of the pedestrian’s death. Raising the front-end of the vehicle by 10cm (4in) was linked to a 22% increase in pedestrian fatality risk, the study found.