Less Is More: How Growing Vehicle Size Undermines Our Climate Goals

In 1975, smaller sedans and wagons dominated American roads, comprising approximately 80% of vehicle sales. The EPA's 2023 Vehicle Size Trends Report confirms what many of us have observed: our vehicles continue to grow even as environmental concerns mount.

Even as we transition to electric vehicles, a concerning trend continues: our vehicles are growing larger and less efficient. This supersizing phenomenon undermines many of the environmental benefits that EVs promise to deliver.

The Hidden Costs of Vehicle Bloat

The shift toward larger vehicles carries significant consequences that extend far beyond personal preference:

Reduced Efficiency: Larger vehicles require more energy to move, whether powered by gasoline or electricity.

Environmental Impact: Manufacturing larger vehicles requires more raw materials and energy. For electric vehicles, this means more battery minerals that must be mined, processed, and eventually recycled or disposed of.

Urban Space Challenges: As vehicles grow, they consume more space in our cities—while driving or parked. This spatial inefficiency contributes to congestion and reduces available public space.

Collective Carbon Footprint: While individual vehicles might be emissions-free at the tailpipe, their lifecycle carbon impact varies significantly by size.

Right-Sizing: A Practical Approach to Sustainability

By giving compact vintage cars like the Suzuki Samurai new electric life, we're preserving efficiency-minded designs from an era before vehicle bloat became normalized. These vehicles offer practical transportation with significantly reduced material and energy requirements compared to modern SUVs and trucks.

We're proud to help keep smaller classic vehicles on the road as EVs—proving that sometimes, less really is more.