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But a heavier load comes with costs, particularly from highway wear and tear.
The generalized fourth-power law explains why road damage is disproportionately inflicted by the heftiest vehicles. Developed after extensive federal roadway testing during the 1950s, the law is a rule of thumb showing that roadway stress caused by two vehicles is a function of their relative weight per axle scaled to the fourth power. As a result, a single 80,000-pound auto hauler with five axles can cause around 4,000 times the destruction of a two-ton car.
(Like all heavy trucks, auto haulers pay considerable federal taxes, but critics have argued that they remain insufficient to cover the costs of pavement abuse.)
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from article about EVs being so heavy that trailer slots are being left empty.
“stinger-steered automobile transporters may not ring any bells, but you know them when you see them. Also called “auto haulers,” “car carriers,” and “stingers,” thousands of these vehicles rumble along interstates, lugging cars in the open air. Auto haulers—I’ll go with that—are a mainstay of the U.S. transportation system, responsible for picking up cars from ports, rail stations, or factories and delivering them to dealerships.”
https://slate.com/business/2023/06/electric-vehicles-auto-haulers-weight-capacity-roads.html
