&gt; Electric cars have as much wear-and-tear on roads as gas cars<p>Sometimes even more. Of course that depends on exact car that is being compared, but as a rule of thumb, an all-electric vehicle would be significantly heavier due to battery weight, and as was pointed out:<p>&gt; Road damage rises [...] to the fourth power of the axle weight [0].<p>Salient example is a Tesla model S, which have a curb weight of 2.1 metric tons in standard configuration [1], while comparable gasoline-powered sedan weights in at approximately 1.5 metric tons [2]. That means that applying formula above, &quot;average&quot;, electric car causes 3.6 <i>times</i> more road wear than &quot;average&quot; CO2-belching one, just due to being 40% heavier while having same number of axles.<p>To make matters worse, many countries tax vehicles based on their weight (so to translate a fair share of road repair costs to the vehicle owner). And that makes subsidies (in the form of tax exemptions) to the electric vehicles even more important - otherwise electric cars would not be able to compete at all.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Gross_axle_weight_rating" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Gross_axle_weight_rating</a><p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.teslamotors.com&#x2F;support&#x2F;model-s-specifications" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.teslamotors.com&#x2F;support&#x2F;model-s-specifications</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bmw.com&#x2F;com&#x2F;en&#x2F;newvehicles&#x2F;3series&#x2F;sedan&#x2F;2015&#x2F;showroom&#x2F;technical_data.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bmw.com&#x2F;com&#x2F;en&#x2F;newvehicles&#x2F;3series&#x2F;sedan&#x2F;2015&#x2F;sho...</a>