Re:How much do things really cost?
by adhesive_wombat on Sunday April 03, 2022 @05:32AM
(#30895640)
It's not quadratic or cubic: it's the fourth power.
Somewhat mitigated by large vehicles having more axles, but each of those axles counts.
So if a 40 tonne lorry has 5 axles, the vehicle does (5/2 * (40/5)^4/(2/2)^4) = 10240 times the damage of a big car weighing 2 tonnes, and 163840 times the damage of a car weighing 1 tonne.
Which, does mean that the vast majority of road wear is down to heavy vehicles. But it does also means an SUV or a Tesla (2 tonnes) causes 16 times the damage of a Micra (1 tonne).
Somewhat mitigated by large vehicles having more axles, but each of those axles counts.
So if a 40 tonne lorry has 5 axles, the vehicle does (5/2 * (40/5)^4/(2/2)^4) = 10240 times the damage of a big car weighing 2 tonnes, and 163840 times the damage of a car weighing 1 tonne.
Which, does mean that the vast majority of road wear is down to heavy vehicles. But it does also means an SUV or a Tesla (2 tonnes) causes 16 times the damage of a Micra (1 tonne).