Financial Strain Pushes China’s Road Network to the Brink, Gas-Guzzling Cars Blamed

Electric cars weigh between 1,500 kg and more than 2,500 kg (the BMW iX M60 weighs almost 2.7 tons), which means an overweight of more than a ton compared to their gasoline counterparts. It’s a problem not only in terms of the car’s consumption, of course, but also for the infrastructures.

In the United States they have come to view them as a danger (to pedestrians and to guardrails), while in France they have begun charging owners an extra fee for parking on the street. China, which is the paradise of electric cars, is not exempt: there, these vehicles are wrecking the roads. And the government has a plan to tackle the problem.

We are talking about cars over five meters long and over three tons…

China has a problem with electric cars. Six out of ten new cars launched in the first half of this year measured more than 5 meters: and large cars are a status symbol. By comparison, only 2% of new models were compact vehicles under 4.5 meters, Bloomberg, the business daily, notes.

They include models such as the Yangwang U8 (a luxury SUV of 5.32 meters and 3.4 tons), the Voyah Dreamer EV (5.31 meters long MPV with 2.6 tons), the BYD Great Tang (5.3 meters and 2.9 tons), NIO ET9 (5.32 meters and 2.7 tons) or the Zeekr 009 (5.21 meters and 2.9 tons).

Its popularity has created a fiscal problem for China’s local governments: “Beijing funds the main national highways and collects a fuel tax that is distributed to regional authorities for the maintenance of local roads,” Bloomberg explains.

But the circulation of these enormous vehicles, which is increasingly taking a bigger slice of China’s market share, is causing significant damage to the roads. This, in turn, reduces fuel tax revenues and raises the need to consider reforming the road financing system.

A possible solution is through measures such as tolls based on distance traveled.

A study conducted by a research unit of the country’s Ministry of Transport revealed that China faces an annual funding shortfall of approximately 50% for the maintenance and management of ordinary roads. About 40% of local roads are in a critical condition. In this scenario, Beijing is drastically reducing tax exemptions for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

As a complementary measure, the government also requires automakers to focus on lightweight materials and aerodynamic efficiency, rather than simply adding heavier batteries to increase range. In year-to-date registrations, New Energy Vehicles (NEV) already account for nearly 50% of total sales (peaking above 60% in some months within the passenger car segment).