Multi-Story car parks and EVs 7

Buddy, I wouldn't worry too much about this in the USA ... I have complete faith in our government !!

Biden Energy Secretary (and former talk show host) Jennifer Grandholm has just hired a massive team of lawyers and legal assistants to evaluate our nation's older parking garages...

I feel safe ....

MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer

They need a 'sarky' emoji...

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

Is the EV the problem ...

... or is it the people who insist upon buying a heavy-duty crew-cab dual-rear-wheels pickup truck because maybe once every two years they might tow a house trailer that they haven't bought yet?

... or is it the people who need a 4x4 truck based SUV to drive to work and maybe take one kid to school?

... or is it the modern safety standards and consumer expectations that lead to a VW Golf being a 1500 kg vehicle?

My Chevrolet Bolt weighs 1600 kg - not much more than the aforementioned modern VW Golf - and does what I need it to do. Other sensibly-sized EVs (Kona, VW ID3 that we can't get in North America) are in the same range. The next-size-up models (Tesla 3 or Y, VW ID4, Hyundai Ioniq 5, etc) are in the 2000 kg range give or take.

Next generation of battery tech will probably allow those vehicles to be brought down to the same ballpark weight as comparable combustion-engine vehicles IF the higher battery energy density is used to get the vehicle lighter as opposed to claiming ever longer range to pacify the people who complain about range and charging time.

My Bolt's give-or-take 400 km range lasts longer than my tummy takes to start growling empty and my bladder to start feeling full. What's needed are charging stations everywhere so that one can charge while taking care of that, anywhere you go.

MJC: my tee shirt.



Politicians like to panic, they need activity. It is their substitute for achievement.

Pud,

Never a truer word said in jest....

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

LI: My significant other used to get the Daily Mail until she realised it was nonsense.
Nearly bought the tee shirt (pic not a selfie btw!!)

Politicians like to panic, they need activity. It is their substitute for achievement.

Preliminay guess at the cause of the collapse was the parking of "too many vehicles" on the roof of the building

(BTW, this was a parking attendant arangement where cars were packed tight into the building on all floors)

Wonder how many of these vehicles were the "ultra heavy" EVs ... packing every single inch of the ancient parking garage ?




MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer

I can't stop-motion on their video without it plastering "up next" videos all over the screen, obliterating the video frame that I want to see, and the screenshot above is microscopic ... but those look like modern combustion-engine SUVs, and a whole lot of them.

Building originally constructed in 1925, certificate of occupancy in 1957 (why 32 years after construction?) and that allowed "five or more cars on each level" (??).

Minor digging: A Ford Model T weighed 1200 - 1650 lbs. A 1957 Chevrolet weighed 3200 - 3500 lbs. A modern Volvo XC90 SUV (I spot one of those, or similar, in the pile) weighs 4500 lbs. A modern Ford Explorer (I see one of those, and that's a common police vehicle in these parts) is around the same.

This is just modern-vehicle bloat. It isn't EV bloat ... yet.

There is a better thread in another forum section:

Brian, have you tried to download their video, which should remove the ad links ?

"Hoffen wir mal, dass alles gut geht !"
General Paulus, Nov 1942, outside Stalingrad after the launch of Operation Uranus.

FOX NEWS has suddenly awoken lto the issue and now claims the Biden Administration is responsible for any building collapse ..




Electric vehicles may be too heavy for old parking garages: FOX REPORT !!

Do all EVs weigh more than similarly-sized internal combustion engine vehicles ???

MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer

The Biden admin did pass an infrastructure bill that has zero provisions for infrastructure maintenance...

More Fun !!! .. Do you know what GVWR means ??

"...the GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 has a curb weight of 9,063 lbs (4,111 kg) and a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,550 lbs (4,785 kg). The former figure is far heavier than the 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab, which has a curb weight as low as 4,720 lbs (2,141 kg).... Car & Driver Magazine

Considering that, brand-new parking garages are designed for ~ 40 psf, each parking space is deigned for a vehicle weight of ~6300 lbs .... A fully loaded GM HUMMER EV (with four overweight passengers) will grossly exceed the design loadings of a newly designed USA garage !!!

.... and, we can all agree that parking garages loose structural integrity as they age ???

.... and, we can all agree that EVs will probably be all grouped together, in one part of a parking garage to share charging facilities ??

..... and, we can all agree that parking garages are commonly "tools of negotiation" ... thrown in by developers to enable a large project to become acceptable to municipal authorities ??? .... and therefore subject to a very marginal design ?

Anyone else see future problems with increasingly larded EVs and aging, rusty parking garages ?

Anyone ??

MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer

that's what I was thinking ... EVs vs massive "yank tanks"

"Hoffen wir mal, dass alles gut geht !"
General Paulus, Nov 1942, outside Stalingrad after the launch of Operation Uranus.

UK ARUP just issued a detailed report about the fire protection issues regarding EVs and parking garages !!!

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MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer

Great article... I've forwarded it to other engineers I keep in contact with.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik