As the number of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads continues to rise, experts are voicing concerns about the potential risks associated with their increased weight. EV’s battery packs make the cars much heavier than traditional gas-powered vehicles. One expert commented, “If you think about an impact in a crash with a lighter vehicle with a pedestrian or a cyclist or motorcyclists, it’s going to have a much different outcome than we’ve seen in the past. Terribly tragic.”
CNBC reports that there are more EVs on the road than ever, however, there are particular difficulties associated with this shift. One is the added weight of these vehicles, primarily due to their massive battery packs, which could pose a serious risk to drivers of lighter vehicles.
Experts noted that electric vehicles, due to their heavy batteries, sometimes offer better protection to their occupants in the event of a crash, but this extra weight, which may be hundreds or even thousands of pounds heavier than that of normal vehicles, might be dangerous for other drivers.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils the new Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010. The new Tesla factory is the former NUMMI plant. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy told CBS News: “I think it does present significant challenges for safety. If you think about an impact in a crash with a lighter vehicle with a pedestrian or a cyclist or motorcyclists, it’s going to have a much different outcome than we’ve seen in the past. Terribly tragic.”
There is a significant weight difference between traditional and electric cars. A full-size pickup truck weighs around 3,000 pounds less than some electric vehicles, which can weigh over 9,000 pounds. An electric car’s battery alone can be as heavy as a compact sedan.
Raul Arbelaez, Vice President of the IIHS Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville, Virginia, commented: “It’s simple laws of physics, the crash for the other vehicle, when you are heavier, is going to be more severe.”
“You take a very large vehicle, say a 10,000-pound vehicle, against that mid-size SUV. You have now converted that from a 40 mph crash for that smaller vehicle all the way to about a 58 mph crash,” Arbelaez explained. “And what crash research tells us is that once you go above, say, the standard 40 mph crash severity, to 55 [mph] and higher, safety for those occupants in those vehicles goes down dramatically. The occupant compartment starts to collapse in ways that we aren’t designing for.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claimed in 2023 that, despite these worries, it was unaware of any disparities in crash outcomes between electric and non-electric vehicles. However, the organization is doing a lot of study on the differences between gas-powered cars and EVs, including looking into crash implications linked to size and weight.
Breitbart News recently reported on the startling figures around crashes involving Tesla’s “Autopilot” software. Although Elon Musk claims the self-driving system is safe, crash reports tell another story:
The Washington Post reports that Tesla’s Autopilot system has been linked to 736 crashes and 17 fatalities in the U.S. since 2019, causing the safety of the company’s driver-assistance technology to be seriously questioned.
The information has sparked a discussion about the safety of autonomous driving technology because it reveals a significant rise in accidents and fatalities linked to Autopilot over the previous four years. There have been 17 fatal incidents associated with Autopilot, 11 of which have happened since May 2022, up from three that were documented in June 2022.
In one serious incident, Tillman Mitchell, a 17-year-old boy, was struck by a Tesla Model Y while it was allegedly in Autopilot mode as he stepped off a school bus. The car never slowed down. It struck Mitchell at 45 mph. According to Mitchell’s great-aunt, Dorothy Lynch, the teenager was thrown into the windshield, flew into the air, and landed face down in the road. Mitchell survived the crash but suffered from memory issues, a broken leg, and a fractured neck.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan