Quick Facts About Electric Vehicle Weight
- Electric vehicles generally weigh more than vehicles with internal combustion engines.
- The average electric vehicle battery weighs about 1,000 pounds.
- The GMC Hummer EV SUV, at over 9,000 pounds, tops the electric vehicle weight charts.
If you wonder why weight carries, well, in a discussion of electric vehicles (EVs), it’s because the weight in any vehicle affects everything from range to insurance cost to tire wear. The immense weight is also a safety concern. Moreover, among the things EVs have in common is excess weight. Despite a vehicle with an internal combustion engine (ICE) lugging a fuel tank loaded with gas, comparing an EV with a comparable ICE vehicle reveals the EV will weigh more. Why? Because of that hefty battery array electric vehicles must haul around. So, what impact does all that extra mass have? Read on. We’ll list a handful of the heaviest EVs and tell you about the adverse effects of excess weight.
Curb Weight: EV vs. ICE
The average electric battery weight is around 1,000 pounds. That’s almost exactly the weight of the battery in the subcompact Kia Niro EV and Tesla Model 3. Then there’s the GMC Hummer EV Pickup. According to Axios, a sister publication to Kelley Blue Book, the Hummer’s EV battery tips the scales at around 2,900 pounds. Comparing those battery weight numbers with an ICE vehicle’s 13-gallon fuel tank filled with 6-pounds-per-gallon gas, totaling 78 pounds, reveals the impact of an EV battery on curb weight. An EV will outweigh a comparable ICE vehicle every time.
What Is Curb Weight?
Curb weight is the pure weight of the vehicle unburdened with cargo or occupants. However, for ICE vehicles, it does include a full complement of fluids: gasoline, oil, radiator water, windshield washer fluid, and so on.
How Much Heavier Is an EV Than a Regular Car?
According to the University of Tennessee’s Center for Transportation Research, EVs often weigh 30% more than gas-powered vehicles.
Does a Fully Charged Electric Car Weigh More?
Sounds crazy, right? According to the publication New Scientist, in Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, energy has mass. Although the weight gain is rather insignificant when compared to the 2 tons or more an EV weighs, a full battery weighs more than an empty one.
RELATED: How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Car?
The Heaviest Electric Vehicles
Here we break out a few statistics, including estimated curb weight, for some heavier EVs. Remember that the weights are estimates and fluctuate depending on range variations within any given model.
| EV Model | Length (inches) | Width (inches) with Mirrors Out | Curb Weight (pounds) |
| GMC Hummer EV SUV | 206.7 | 93.7 | 9,100-9,700 |
| GMC Hummer EV Pickup | 216.8 | 93.7 | 9,100-9,700 |
| GMC Sierra EV Denali | 233.4 | 95.7 | 8,600-8,900 |
| Chevrolet Silverado EV | 233.1 | 94.3 | 8,600-8,900 |
| Rivian R1T | 217.1 | 81.8 (with mirrors folded) | 7,148 |
| Volvo EX90 | 198.3 | 83.2 | 7,033 |
| Rivian R1S | 200.8 | 81.8 (with mirrors folded) | 6,986 |
| Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV | 201.8 | 84.9 | 6,779 |
| Ram ProMaster EV (Super High Roof) | 250.6 | 97.6 | 6,624 |
| Tesla Cybertruck | 223.7 | 95 | 6,603 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQS 580 4Matic SUV | 201.8 | 84.9 | 6,228 |
| Ford E-Transit Van (extended length and high roof) | 263.9 | 83.1 (with mirrors folded) | 6,169 |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 232.7 | 96.0 | 6,015 |
Electric Vehicle Weight: What Are the Downsides?
Does it make any significant difference that EVs weigh hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds more than ICE vehicles? Yes, and for some reasons that aren’t totally obvious. Whenever we put in some time behind the wheel of an EV — any EV — we marvel at how effortlessly it seems to accelerate. Consequently, we occasionally forget just how heavy it is. However heavy, that extra weight carries consequences from safety concerns, car insurance costs, and more.
1. Stopping Distances
A safety concern with heavy electric vehicles is their stopping distances. The heavier the EV, the longer it takes to stop. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), though EVs are safer for the driver and passengers, they generally pose safety threats to other vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists as designed. See below how it impacts your insurance costs.
2. Car Insurance Costs
Among the hidden costs of EV ownership is inflated insurance premiums. There are two reasons for the added cost. An electric car’s powertrain components — particularly the battery system, can tens of thousands of dollars to replace. Also, the magnified weight of the EV will increase the damage to other vehicles (or stationary objects) in a crash, therefore increasing liability claims. A finding of the National Bureau of Economic Research is that a 1,000-pound increase in the weight of a vehicle increases the probability of a fatality from a crash by 47%.
PRO TIP: Although you can expect to pay more to insure an EV, it probably won’t be painfully more. Forbes Advisor says the average difference is roughly $100 per year.
3. Lagging Highway Infrastructure
We don’t need a government report to recognize the market trend toward SUVs and trucks translates into the average weight of a vehicle on U.S. roads today being greater than 20 or 30 years ago. Packing their extra 1,000 pounds of heft, EVs are certainly doing their part to push that average weight even higher. A formula developed by the American Association of State Highway Officials in the 1950s and still used today, the Generalized Fourth Power Law, calculates the ratio between vehicle weight and pavement damage. Spoiler alert: The heavier the vehicle, the more it damages pavement.
Only about 4% of vehicles on the road today are EVs, but the experts at the Edison Electric Institute expect that number to jump to 10% by 2030. Many of today’s paved streets and roads may not withstand the additional wear and tear. Moreover, concerns are growing that even the guardrails we see along roadways may not be strong enough to perform adequately as corpulent EVs increase in population. Likewise, it remains to be seen if structures like parking garages will accommodate the additional tonnage.
4. EV Tires: How They Wear
An electric vehicle’s tires wear more rapidly than those of a gas-fueled vehicle. According to the radio program “Science Friday,” the wear rate can be as much as 20% faster than tires on a gas-fueled vehicle. Some tire manufacturers attempt to address this by developing sturdier specialty tires for the electric car market.
RELATED: EV Tires: Everything You Need to Know
