EV batteries are heavy, sure. But conventional cars have always carried a lot of mass — it was just in the engine block and frame instead of a battery pack. That historical baseline gets lost in the conversation.

A dual-motor Tesla Model Y weighs about 4,400 pounds curb weight. That’s roughly where a full-size family sedan from the 1960s sat. The difference is that the Model Y is stiff where it needs to be, controlled where it counts, and designed to manage that mass with far more precision.

The Model Y’s brakes can drag it down from highway speed faster and more predictably than any big sedan from fifty years ago. Its tires stick in corners that would’ve dumped a 1960s cruiser into the weeds. Its electronic stability systems intervene before many humans even realize they’re sliding.

In a crash? Coming from a 1960s land-yacht, the crash survivability looks like freaking witchcraft.

The weight didn’t disappear—it moved, and it changed how it’s distributed and controlled. Which leads to a more interesting question than “how heavy is it?”: what changed in the way cars are designed to deal with that weight?