The development of SUVs would be gasoline if it weren’t so depressing. John Sayler of the University of Pennsylvania’s Law School coined a new phrase: “Road violence is the second leading cause of injury to death in the United States.” [after gun violence] . . . This toll is not triggered accidentally; SUVs and pickups pose a disproportionate risk to other road users, especially pedestrians and car drivers. . . the resulting traffic violence puts a disproportionate burden on women, people of color and low wage earners. “
But how did we get here? The rise of the SUV is a story of the runaway corporate greed of auto companies. They exist in large part because of a loophole in the law aimed at reducing fuel consumption.
In the wake of the oil crisis of the 1970s, the US government tried to force vehicle manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency. However, the regulations only applied to vehicles weighing up to six tons. So the auto industry invented a new type of car and pumped millions of advertising into conjuring up light trucks in our cultural notion of a family car.
The SUV practically killed the station wagon, the original add-on seating and loading option. And US lawmakers introduced generous tax breaks for heavier vehicles. Fuel swallowing was encouraged and marketed to the extreme.
It all worked fine.
Light trucks now account for almost two-thirds of American car purchases. And the rest of the world is following suit. Last year, 42 percent of global passenger car sales were SUVs. Between 2010 and 2018, the International Energy Agency calculated that SUVs pumped an additional 544 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, more than seven times offsetting all fuel savings for cars during that time.
Even in 2020, when global emissions from lockdowns decreased 7 percent, emissions from SUV drivers rose 0.5 percent. The driving authorization is standard.
So we now live in a world where Nissan is selling a pickup called Titan. Toyota’s version is called Sequoia (the majestic California tree, terribly threatened by forest fires). They both do a pathetic 15 miles per gallon. But they keep going.
Can we take this mindset into the future? Heavy electric SUVs emit fewer kilometers per kilowatt hour than cars.
According to MIT’s Carbon Counter, the Hyundai Ioniq, the electric Mini Cooper and the Tesla Model 3 have the lowest lifetime emissions. Retrofitting existing small cars would be the lowest-emission route to fossil-free driving. But supporting local public transport and active travel would take the burden off the car manufacturers.
And after cheating the game to the detriment of the planet’s habitability for decades, this is what they deserve.
- Catherine Cleary is the co-founder of Pocket Forests
