Cars are subject to change. The fashion, the taste, the necessities.
Our cars have been getting bigger and bigger for decades.
A 3 Series today is the same size as 5 Series 20 years ago.
The Golf is as big as an early Passat…
At the same time, the windows are getting smaller, limiting. Especially the modern loopholes at the rear make more assistants such as PDC or camera systems necessary. And again a few pounds are put on.
Of course, some things are due to safety. But a lot is self-inflicted.
It’s a convenient obesity like the many actuators I might need once a year and this featuritis is out of control. One aspect of struggling with the automaker (because they overslept) is the proliferation of the ECUs. Where Tesla also enables OTA through slimness, the OEMs are fighting with 70, 100 in peak cases over 200 of these minicomputers. In addition, the vehicles have become almost irreparable.
This increase in weight led to problems with crumple zones already in the 1990s, in particular large off-road vehicles (now SUVs) had become more popular and the S-Class tanks, as they used the other vehicles as their energy buffer.
So the smaller vehicles had to be upgraded with today’s multi-airbags and side impact struts. Weight.
This trend seems to be accelerating again with the many SUVs.
Yes, high entry level, good overview and a feeling of security. Now the last two points are obsolete in discussions if every fourth car in Germany alone is an SUV.
However, with electrification and the resulting craze for e-range, the average vehicle has long since broken the 2 tonne limit. The EQS weighs 2.5 tons and the obscene e-Maybach just under 3.5 tons.
Not only that more powerful motors and batteries are then required, faster superchargers, etc. The infrastructure is significantly more stressed by the many small trucks, not to mention the other resources.
Perhaps with full electrification instead of the co2 tax of a combustion engine, the theoretical co2 of electricity generation and also the weight will be taxed?
Instead of complaining now how mean the state is and exempts the poor driver with new taxes and duties, thank your dealer. Huge sums of money are spent on things that rot 95% of the time.
Rethink mobility
