Some SUVs and pickup trucks may be too tall for the limited headroom in a parking garage.
Just took another look at the pic I linked earlier: at least 36 visible SUVs (maybe 2 to 4 minivans, some times hard to tell) plus 2 work vans on that top deck, if there’s any sedan in the shot it’s one of the overturned ones at the bottom.
Electric SUVs are now a thing too. And electric pickups.
I know my garage can handle large SUV and pickups and electric vehicles. I think the worry is what happens when they are ALL (or nearly) those bigger, heavier vehicles.
Since my building rests on that garage it is worth being certain it has the structural capacity to handle this extra load. It probably does but we have to check.
My point was the biggest, heaviest SUVs and pickup trucks might exceed the garage height limits (though Googling, that’s seven feet, so few cars are going to be taller than that).
Ford’s electric F-150 weighs up to 6,500 lbs.
I have to say that’s more than a ton more than the behemoth 1962 Chrysler I learned to drive on,
FWIW the entrance to my garage has a bar that reads 7’ limit. I think most cars and SUVs and pickups can manage unless they are lifted in some fashion or have roof racks with bikes (or whatever) on them. I suspect this would affect cargo vans the most.
Although, I notice in the photo @JRDelirious provided above one car does seem to be some sort of work van with ladders on the top. So…I dunno…
fyi, I have tagged this as a breaking news thread. Please treat it as such.
God, the picture of the car configuration on the roof reminds me of an advertisement for a game I sometimes get on Facebook and Duolingo.
There’s a members only engineering board that discusses “engineering disasters”, including discussion from forensic engineers. I find it really interesting and helpful for things like this.
Gift link to New York Times article on the collapse
The garage apparently had structural issues dating back to 2003. There had apparently been plans to fix them in 2010 but perhaps that didn’t happen.
Some of the problems cited - cracks in concrete, concrete flaked away from internal steel structure - remind me of some of the issues of the Champlain Towers that collapsed in Florida even if a lot of other details around the collapses differ.
I’m sure there will be more information as time passes.
I’ve had a few of those giant pickup trucks, outfitted with “work” stuff (crane, toolboxes, etc.). The diesel one weighed 9200 lbs. Not sure what caused this particular collapse, but I don’t think EVs are our main concern here in the states. I’d bet on age, deterioration, and maybe some type of collective ownership making repair decisions more difficult.
Do civil engineers include some type of “design life” estimate in their drawings? I’ve always wondered about this for big structures.
But those giant pick up trucks take up more floor space, too. Electric vehicles may very well weigh more per square foot than other vehicles.
If you had a garage with defined spaces that were large enough to hold a large pickup, then it might but matter whether people were driving pickups or teslas. But that’s not how that garage worked. They jammed the cars in as close as possible, every which way.
You don’t see a lot of pickup trucks in NYC. One reason is they are too hard to park. They don’t fit in the holes left by other drivers on the street, and can’t maneuver in many of the lots and garages.
I suspect age and damage were the primary problems with this garage, but heavier ev’s may well have contributed.
Did the valet people sort the cars by model? A lot of those cars appear to be parked next to same/similar models.
The valet probably sorted them by size/shape, to fit more cars in.
I noticed that as well. The one teetering in the edge looks like a Land Rover, as do others in that row. In fact the whole top layer appears to be SUVs, other than the work van with the ladders (which suggests the height clearance was decent). Somebody was very organized, or perhaps a car dealer was using the space for storage. Or, the preferred car in NYC is an SUV.
Or maybe Car Services using it as a holding pen. That class of SUV has taken over the business niche the Grand Marquis/Town Car used to hold in many cities.
The current batteries are made with the third-lightest element in the universe. I’m not optimistic that higher energy densities with heavier elements will result in much weight reduction.
Model T weight - 1200 - 1650 lbs
I’m taller than average, but ‘normal tall’ ie. within a standard deviation, not NBA center tall. I’ve been in some parking garages that are scary to walk in, with either 6’ (can’t clear) or 6’6" clearance - can clear with a couple of inches to spare but still I instinctually duck.
I don’t know this garage but you can tell it’s an elevator garage; they don’t drive your car up a ramp, they drive it onto an elevator & take it to an upper floor that way. It’s possible that the street level is a bit higher than the middle levels such that a work truck can be driven in there but then need to be parked only on the street level or the roof as the intermediate floors don’t have enough clearance. Or, as someone stated already, the majority of new vehicles are SUVs & that roof is a representative sample of their entire parking load
Lithium batteries are only 7% Lithium. Expected future efficiencies in batteries are an overall reduction in the amount of metals needed. The atomic weight of Lithium doesn’t really factor into this.
By weight percentage (g material/g battery), a typical lithium-ion battery comprises about: 7% Co, 7% Li (expressed as lithium carbonate equivalent, 1 g of lithium = 5.17 g LCE), 4% Ni, 5% Mn, 10% Cu, 15% Al, 16% graphite, and 36% other materials
You have to be careful when comparing weights of vehicles to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.
Curb weight = The weight of the vehicle only, with all the equipment that comes with it, but nothing else.
Gross weight = The total weight of the vehicle and everything in it, including passengers, cargo, and fuel.
The weights you quoted for the F150 are gross weights according to your post. I’m not sure if the weights you quoted for the Tesla are gross weights or curb weights.