But, why? We WANT people to buy electric cars... It's like the patient isn't breathing, bleeding to death and the nephrologist wants us to test their kidney function.
1. There are some issues with heavy vehicles. They put more wear on the roads, they pose a greater risk to other drivers because of their higher potential energy in crashes, and they consume more energy (e.g. power plants have to burn more coal).
2. Current EV battery technology uses resources that have significant environmental impact. Smaller battery does less damage.
The goal of this proposed battery weight tax seems to be tweaking the trajectory of EV development towards an even bigger environmental win.
Moreover roads wear out to the fourth power of the vehicle's mass, which means if anything that light vehicles subsidize those heavier ones regardless of emissions.
Many/most roads are economically worthwhile (or are a low enough cost to be a justifiable luxury) on their own albeit some (mostly in rural areas) at lower standards of maintenance.
Saying that, they do have a somewhat hidden advantage - as it takes more effort and planning to drive any particular distance, EVs will reduce the amount of miles people drive.
Until we fix that, (more mixed use zoning, higher density, consistent predictable and readily availale public transport options) cars are the only option for a lot of people
Other parts of the subdivision connect to a "greenway", but it is very broken up with missing sidewalks, and only has limited crosswalks. It really is only useful for getting to a nearby park (which is nice), but not for any essentials.
Some of the local residents (including myself) have been asking the city for some funding (or even to take advantage of grants) to improve the walk ability, but there is a smaller contingent of more influential folks that either threaten lawsuits should the city install sidewalks/walkpaths, or just take up tons of time so that everyone is tired and wants to go home by the time we get to speak.
While we've gained some visibility and good rapport, we've not really managed to change anything, and it's starting to feel futile.