LONDON: As the shift to electric mobility gathers pace around the world, engineers are warning that old multi-storey car parks must be adapted to cope with the weight of heavy electric vehicles or risk partial collapse.
“Potentially if we just ignore this issue then we could have a partial collapse. It would not necessarily be a wholesale collapse," Chris Whapples, an IStructE fellow and overseeing consultant for the review, told the PA news agency. “It’s not the little city electric cars that are likely to be a problem or the average family saloon, but some of the top end electric vehicles like executive saloons or SUVs which are about three tonnes or over which could potentially be overloading some of these older multi-storey car parks.”
If this is too expensive owners may have to impose a vehicle weight limit of up to two-and-a-half tonnes.