Stephen Cooke, Asphalt Group MD, pushes back on reports that EVs are to blame for the state of the UK’s roads
This is 2024, and Britain’s roads are in scandalous and dangerous decay. Things are so bad that I find myself now swerving on motorways to avoid gouges, cracks, holes and channels worn into the surfaces. Minor roads are even worse. We’ve spent too many years shovelling dollops of asphalt into holes and patching over the problem. Six months later, the same hole reappears, and we patch again. Repairs over repairs, over repairs. Neither government nor industry seems to want to break this cycle of mediocrity.
Productivity depends on roads. We need them to be safe, reliable and long lasting. We need surface treatments that reinforce and strengthen our roads, not weaken them. And instead of discussing the problems and solutions, the media chose to blame the rise in potholes on electric cars. So let me be clear, as a road resurfacing expert, EVs are not the reason for the UK’s pothole epidemic. It’s due to poor maintenance, lack of investment, heavy freight and the wrong solutions being deployed. Asphalt Group wants to deliver the roads of the future, not just for EVs but for everybody who uses them.
Earlier this year The Daily Mail was made to correct a misleading story suggesting EVs are the root cause of potholes in the UK. Under the headline of “Heavier electric cars blamed for the £16bn cost of pothole plague” the article misrepresented a report by the Asphalt Industry Alliance. Thanks to the hard work of groups such as FairCharge and Stop Burning Stuff, misinformation is being tackled head on. But we need more industry voices to stand up and speak on the record. When this story broke, the road repair industry was reprehensibly silent.
Now is the time for industry to unite, forward plan, and make the much-needed change to deliver the roads of the future. Asphalt Group have the systems to make a new road last beyond the current life span saving money and future claims. The AA has estimated that the cost to vehicles for pothole related damage is running at half-a-billion pounds a year, with a staggering 632,000 call outs for road-related defects – an increase of 16% on the previous year.
Our roads are buckling under the weight of daily convoys of loaded 44 tonne HGVs. Heavy trucks and HGVs damage our roads much more than EVs. We mustn’t let the political weaponization of EVs distract us from the main issue: that we need to redesign the local network and improve, reinforce and repair our roads better. And then preserve them to last longer so they cost less to repair and maintain. Asphalt Group has the road surface systems to make a new road last beyond the current life span, saving money, claims, delays, congestion, pollution – and perhaps even lives. The status quo is unsustainable. Financially and environmentally, building better roads is a no brainer. You’d be potty not to.
