Experts say SUVs and electric vehicles are unfairly blamed for being a major cause of road damage, as the state of asphalt across the UK continues to deteriorate.
Over the past nine years, the average curb weight of new cars has increased by almost 400kg, from 1,553kg to 1,947kg.
Last year, the average weight of the cars tested on the road by Autocar was 2,024 kg. Of the 73 cars tested, the most common body type by far was the SUV and the most common fuel type was electric.
This increase in weight, coupled with the growth in the number of SUVs and electric vehicles, has led critics of these vehicles to accuse them of damaging roads, and some councils, including those in London and Cardiff, to consider imposing additional parking fees on them.
In a recent blog published by the Institute of Civil Engineers, Elizabeth Orchard, director of infrastructure consultancy Endelevu, said electric vehicles are a factor in the formation of potholes.
“Roads are designed to support a certain number of heavy vehicles over their useful life,” he wrote. “As vehicles, especially electric vehicles, become heavier, wear and tear per vehicle increases. More damage occurs faster, reducing the life of the road.”
However, Ali Rahman, assistant professor at the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds, believes some critics exaggerate the harmful effects of these types of vehicles.
“We don’t want to blame only the heavier cars for the damage,” he said. “The fourth power law shows that road damage increases proportionally with the axle load. If, for example, the axle load of a vehicle is doubled, the road damage does not double, but rather increases approximately 16 times.
“Heavy vehicles [HGVs] They are the main cause of damage to roads. One heavy vehicle can cause the same damage as thousands of car trips.
“Combined with other factors acting together (climate change, water ingress and delays in road maintenance) it is the reason why SUVs and electric vehicles cannot be singled out as damaging to roads.”
In March, the Asphalt Industry Alliance said local authorities in England and Wales were facing a record £18.62 billion backlog of road repairs that would take 12 years to resolve.
It added that 16% of local roads – equivalent to more than 32,500 miles – had less than five years of structural life left.
Later in the year, the government announced a £7.3bn spending package for road maintenance over four years to 2030. It also tightened rules on how councils spend the money to ensure it is used effectively.
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