Cars are still cars—even when they’re electric

The new Hummer EV, a vehicle that is the epitome of everything wrong with the trajectory of vehicle design in the past couple of decades, was the vehicle that Biden drove when he arrived at General GM. He exclaimed, "That Hummer's one hell of a vehicle." We are likely to see more of the massive vehicles on the road as a result of Biden's publicity stunt.

We don't need this future. Even though there have been increases in fuel efficiency and EV ownership in recent years, the rise of the SUV has almost eliminated their benefits. Growing global demand for SUVs was the second largest contributor to increasing emissions according to the IEA. It would be easy to say that all we need to do is change the engines of those SUVs.

EV's are often referred to as zero emission vehicles because they don't emit tailpipe emissions. That doesn't mean they're clean Increasing rates of cancer and lung disease, as well as making use of child labor, are some of the consequences that come with the large batteries' large amount of resources. According to the IEA, demand for key minerals will increase by 4,200% if we embrace the transition being sold to us. American policymakers and industry players don't pay much attention to the size of the batteries in electric trucks and SUVs because they're too big. They would be unprofitable.

The first SUV to be branded as an SUV was the 1984 Jeep Cherokee, and sales began to take off in the 1990s as more models were released. They were able to take advantage of a loophole that allowed light trucks to meet less stringent fuel economy standards than cars. SUVs and trucks were more profitable than sedans, which is why automakers wanted the public to purchase them. With so many larger vehicles surrounding them, drivers felt less safe unless they leveled up as well.

Even though there have been increases in fuel efficiency and electric-vehicle ownership in recent years, the rise of the SUV has virtually negated their benefits.

SUV sales finally overtook sedans in 2015, leading to the reduction of car offerings. SUVs and trucks will be the majority of new vehicle sales by the year 25. The consequences of filling the roads with large vehicles have been noted.

The Hummer may be the ultimate expression of automotive excess, but it isn't the only vehicle that has been increased in size and height. The best-selling SUV in the United States, the Toyota RAV4 has gained 14 inches since 1999, according to USA Today. Consumer Reports found that the average passenger truck has gotten heavier and taller. The number of people who died on the roads in the US last year was the highest in a decade. The increase in large vehicles is part of the reason for the trend.

According to the Detroit Free Press, pedestrians were two to three times more likely to die when hit by an SUV or pickup truck because of their high front ends. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers in SUVs and pickup trucks are more likely to hit pedestrians because their visibility on the road is less, and academics at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that being hit by heavier vehicles increases the likelihood of death. Electric SUVs and trucks are heavier than a conventional vehicle due to the large batteries they need.