E-Trucks Are Heavy. Can Our Roads Handle Them? 

In a new study, Professor Kaan Ozbay, director of the C2SMART center, Jingqin Gao, C2SMART's assistant director of research, and colleagues examined whether New York City's infrastructure can handle electric-powered trucks, which can weigh up to 9,000 pounds more than diesel counterparts. Their research projects that e-trucks could increase road repair costs by nearly 4.5 percent by 2030 and nearly 12 percent by 2050, with bridges accounting for 65 percent of additional costs. Using a medical metaphor, Ozbay noted the damage incurred by increasingly heavy trucks would be gradual rather than immediate: "Imagine somebody has heart disease, and then you make them eat worse food. They're not going to die tomorrow, but the effect is cumulative."