Innovation-Nov-Dec-2023

FEATURE

a permit for the heaviest truck loads, such as components for wind turbines or dams and heavy girders for new bridges. Over-load trucks have the biggest impact on engineering design for transportation infrastructure. Hamersley says that means even as transport trucks eventually become electric, it won’t necessarily have an impact because batteries are installed over the front axels, which don’t support cargo. “The payload is really where the weight is,” he says. A fleet of electric transport trucks is still far into the future, predicts Hamersley. “They need big ranges out of those vehicles and the network of charging stations that will have to be built to get that to work is some time away.” PARKING GARAGES WILL HAVE TO ADAPT The impacts on parking garages are even more substantial. Future parkades will need to have an increased load carrying capacity, better fire-suppression systems, and a smarter power supply to accommodate EVs and charging stations, says Frank Cavaliere, BSc, P.Eng., managing principal for RJC Edmonton’s Structural Engineering team. While EVs common in today’s market are heavier than their gasoline engine counterparts, they don’t quite exceed the existing design loads for parkades. “That said, the newer, larger vehicles, like electric pick-up trucks and SUVs—dare I say, the electric Hummer—are getting very close, if not exceeding, the current loads in the code,” says Cavaliere. He says building code requirements haven’t yet changed to accommodate electric vehicles. “While it is the owner’s decision,” he says, “new parkades being designed and constructed should, prudently, be engineered to support more load than the code requires to provide capacity for future vehicles.”

UBC professors Dr. Yasmine Abdin, MSc, right, and Scott Renneckar are researching how carbon fibre can be used to reduce vehicle weight. P hoto : P aul H. J oseph /UBC

ROAD MAINTENANCE MAY BE AFFECTED As for bridge decking and asphalt, they are a different story. “Those tend to be more prone to wear and weight,” says Hamersley. “That’s probably an area where we’ll see differences with the

average vehicle being a little bit heavier. It might have an impact on our paving cycles and we might have to re-pave a little faster.” Every year, there are thousands of trips over BC bridges that require

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

INNOVATION