Chubby EV Batteries A Major Concern For Parking Structure Engineers

Major problems brewing for people who design parking garages.

Thanks to the size of those hefty batteries in electric vehicles, the average weight for an EV is now more than 2 tons. That is 33% more than the 1 and a half ton vehicles were we driving in 1974. And some EV’s with longer mileage ranges, are topping 3 tons.

Bigger vehicles mean the Institution of Structural Engineers based in London England is staying up late every night to figure out how to build safe parking garages that can withstand the added weight.

And fires are a factor, as fires are difficult to put out when they involve large EV batteries, made from rare metals mined in Third World countries by indentured workers, sometimes even children.  That often means numerous fire trucks racing to the scene of an EV fire, wasting thousands of gallons of firefighting chemicals, and putting even more weight on parking structures.

Parking garage at night.

Parking-garage-Oct-2023-GettyImages-92603595.jpg via Alpha Media Portland OR