Heavy Hitters: EVs Smash Through Guardrails, Raising New Safety Concerns
by Olivia Rondeau Sep 20, 2024
A new car safety study has proven that electric vehicles (EVs) are too heavy to be restrained by guardrails that line roads in case of accidents, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said. [emphasis, links added]
As the number of EVs such as Teslas and Chevrolet Bolts takes over the roads amid concerns over the environmental impact of gasoline-powered vehicles, one of the lead researchers from the university’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) warned that there needs to be “some urgency to address this issue.”
In a study sponsored by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and partnered with Auburn University’s Transportation Research Institute, MwRSF conducted a “first-of-its-kind crash test” of an EV pickup truck in October 2023.
The test used a 7,148-pound 2022 Rivian R1T truck that was sent at a barrier at a speed of 60 mph, with footage showing the heavy EV completely blasting through the guardrail and launching over the concrete wall while sending chunks of it flying:
https://climatechangedispatch.com/heavy-hitters-evs-smash-through-guardrails-raising-new-safety-concerns/
