This sort of OIG behaviour seems very familiar from the R5 group that I follow.
Waking up to a non-charged EV on a workday simply isn’t an option for Mrs AM, hence the decision to stick to Octopus Go.
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I drive with my EV on an unmetaled surface/track every time Ieave our house. It’s fine.
Our EV weighs less than a Landrover or similar vehicle. Even their weight is not really the issue the weight of trucks is the cause of most damage (up to 90%) on roads. S-in-S has a particular bee in their bonnet and hardly misses an opportunity to post about it on this thread.
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There was a very interesting thread on PistonHeads in the last day or so including quite a bit on this very topic with charts showing that pretty much all the damage is done by Lorries. I will have a quick look and copy an interesting fact
Can’t find the thread it was on but the damage is the fourth power of weight on an axle meaning a car to lorry ratio is over 1000. Someone I think said that you’d need 3 million caterhams to match one lorry 
Heavier vehicles, like those EVs with a curb weight of more than 4,000 pounds, tend to cause more wear and tear on dirt tracks and unpaved roads than lighter ones. But, it’s usually not a big deal unless the road is already in poor shape or you’re driving recklessly. The real impact comes down to how much weight is on each axle, how much air is in the tires, and how fast you’re going, not just the total weight. If you keep gravel roads in good shape and drive carefully, even a vehicle like a Model Y with a curb weight of 4,000 pounds can handle regular traffic without too much extra wear.
Please read what I said, I was comparing with regular consumer suburban road cars.
A Landrover Defender is not excessively heavy, and a tractor has large tyres to spread the weight….. .. I only speak from experience living in a rural part of the UK.
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I live in a very rural part of the north Wales, so I speak from experience too. I drive over unmetled road every time I leave our house. I did read your post, which contains much of the same misinformation about vehicle weight as others from you.
A Landrover Defender 90 weighs around 2400 kg (GVW), depending on spec and 110 more. They are not light vehicles. Farmers love their large pickups around here too. They are all heavier than the EV we have for comparison.
No car is light when it comes to soft mud/ground, and can sink in it. My old Morris Minor is light in comparison to new cars of any kind, but won’t just skip over mud.
A modern tractor does have wide tyres, and they do help spread weight, but do not fully compensate for their large axle weights. Many modern cars, including EVs have wide tyres to spread weight and deal with the motor power.
Well we will have to agree to disagree then. I was talking with several yesterday iand we might start to see progressive road taxation move to being based on vehicle weight at some poi t. The structure of non primary road maintenance is being explored.. as currently it’s not working, as the maintenance funding ratios are not set for the wear and tear of increased vehicle weight from consumer cars ( I am not talking about working agricultural vehicles, or support vehicles as they are relatively minor in number compared to the volume of consumer cars)… and the state of our roads with the state of pot holes is evidence in part.
I know this point is slightly different, but could be a relevant illustration, NCP cited one of the contributions to their failed commercial situation was from increased car park maintenance from more recent heavier vehicles.
BTW the Landrover Defender 90 I was illustrating (yes whoops I omitted the model number) as a not untypical rural vehicle is from around 1700 kg. The average consumer EV weight are between 1800 and 2300 kg depending on type of car. With EVs being typically 200 to 600 kg or 20 to 30 % heavier than their petrol or diesel equivalent…. So clearly in volume the wear and tear on roads, minor roads, non metalled roads is going to be greater, so will need to be factored into future maintenance plans. The funding mechanism will be a political choice.
Data source: Substack.
Looking at my Nissan Leaf, its weight is 1580 kg. A Tesla model 3 is 1650 kg. Model Y is 1909 kg.
A Toyota Hilux (very popular around here) is 2175 kg.
I really don’t think that you can say that EVs tend to be heavier than ICE cars without more information.
Just Checked the weight of our ID.3 tour pro and its 1920 kgs, thats with the 77kwh battery
1365kg for my EV apparently. Thought is was a bit less.
In 2000 the Ford Fiesta was the best selling car in the UK. It weighed around 1000kg in base trim.
In 2025 it was the Ford Puma. It is around 1250kg for the non EV version.
It is not just EVs. All cars are getting heavier, and also larger.
Bruce
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As well as a tax on weight we could do with a tax on width. An approaching Discovery or a large Audi Q on a narrow country lane is a scary experience. They can’t fit into parking spaces either, and their owners like to maintain plenty of space to remove their pampered child or pooch from the rear.
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Or even just stricter rules on what is required to be road legal. Like how F1 have to meet strict rules.
Right now they are very lenient and these let the size arms race perpetuate where the smaller car comes off worse in accidents with larger cars and many people don’t want to be in the smaller vehicle so cars get bigger and bigger.
While I am completely sure it will never happen, weight and width limits for non goods vehicles based on the number of passenger seats could ensure sensible vehicles are on the roads rather than monsters.
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Absolutely, and on top of that EVs are typically 20 to 30% heavier than their ICE equivalent… though going back a few years one data source had it 10 to 15%, I guess batteries have improved with range in recent years at the cost of weight since then .. And then we wonder why the state of our roads is increasing deteriorating.. it’s not all about increased resurfacing intervals. .
Don’t get me wrong I like the idea of EVs generally, we have just bought a new HEV (Aygo X - weight 1175 kg ) and I will likely buy a full EV for my next car, but I consciously am looking at non oversized/super bloated models which I detest whether they be ICE or EV because of the harm and environmental impact they produce. Fortunately there are more choices at appropriate sizes with good endurance/range but I feel we need to be realistic on the impact EVs generally have on infrastructure like roads rather than try and denying it.
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I agree, I was in our small local town yesterday with its relatively narrow historic narrow streets - there was some monster over sized SUV car (have you noticed they are nearly always painted in dark colours ) that couldn’t drive down a fairly narrow two way street as it was filling two thirds of the road space… he had to reverse about 40 yards and then reversed onto the pavement impacting pedestrians who became very wary and backed away .. it was just ridiculous .. I just hope the owners of such ridiculous vehicles tire of them through the difficulty of driving in small towns, villages and roads/lanes
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The trouble is, a lot of the drivers think they own the road and are accustomed to intimidating people in small cars to get out of the way. Some form of taxation seems to be the only way unfortunately. Obviously farmers and builders need large vehicles, but the vast majority simply do not.
Differential taxation will probably make them think that they are even more entitled to use the road as they wish.
So what’s the solution? Lentils under the dust cap? I’m very tempted….
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Is that a bit much? If I remember correctly, a typical UK saloon is about 1835 millimeters wide, and an SUV is around 1965 millimeters.