Replies (2)

• @TonyOstrich@lemmy.zip 2026-09-27 03:09

  Which is the thing people don’t get about higher registration fees on electric vehicles and why they may be necessary (sort of). Tax on fuel paid at the pump funds roads, but since EVs aren’t buying fuel and weigh as much or more they should probably pay something towards road maintenance. Assuming keep the current funding model, which I’m not convinced is the best model. I’m fairly pro EV and most taxes like fuel tax have always felt a little regressive even if I’m able to pay for it just fine. I don’t know what the actual answer is, but it does seem like the short fall could likely be generated by better taxing wealthy corporations and improving public transportation.

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• @kahjtheundedicated@lemmy.world 2026-09-27 05:28

  I found that very interesting, so I did a little research, and yeah, it’s called the “fourth power law”, which is used to compare road wear between two vehicles. The strength of the road does pretty drastically change how closely the “rule” applies, but it does seem to be a decent rule of thumb for common paved secondary roads. For anybody reading, it’s based on axle loading. So if we assume a 50/50 weight balance on a standard 2-axle vehicle, it’s axle loading is half the vehicle weight. The difference in road wear can be calculated as ([Greater Axle Load]/[Lesser Axle Load])^4^ So if you compare a Hummer EV at roughly 10,000lbs, so 5,000lb axle loading, to a 1st gen Miata at about 2,000lbs, or 1,000lb axle load, the Miata would have to drive down a road 625 times to do a similar amount of damage as the Hummer driving down it once. That is a fairly extreme example, but you get the idea. Source 1 Source 2

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