Expert reveals why EVs are dangerous to some drivers on the road trends now
EVs may have a high safety ranking for their own occupants, but passengers in other cars are in danger when the two vehicles crash, experts have warned.
A professor at the University of Michigan revealed other vehicles absorb more of the crash energy in a collision due to the weight of the electric-powered car, which is are 30 percent heavier than their counterparts.
Jingwen Hu, who teaches mechanical engineering, noted that a crash between an EV and a gas-powered vehicle would have the same outcome as a heavy truck and small sedan - the latter would likely be crushed.
Weight plays a critical role in an EV surviving a crash over other cars because it won't slow down as abruptly and has a lower rollover rate - both of which are linked to increased injuries and fatalities.
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EVs are ranked as top-safety vehicles for occupants, but in a crash, it puts other cars' occupants at risk of serious injury or fatality
EVs are considered top safety picks by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) which revealed injury claims were 40 percent lower than gas-powered vehicles from 2011 to 2019, but that only applied to its own occupants.
'While the inherent weightiness of EVs offers a natural advantage in protecting occupants, it also means that other vehicles bear the burden of absorbing more crash energy in collisions with heavier EVs,' Hu wrote for The Conversation.
'This dilemma is central to the concept of 'crash compatibility,' a well-established field of safety research.
This is in part, is due to the EVs weight, which protects the vehicle in a crash, but could pose a severe disadvantage to people in other cars.
On average, electric vehicles weigh between 20 and 50 percent more than gas-powered vehicles because the battery alone can weigh nearly as much as a small standard car.
The National Transportation Safety Board recently highlighted that the battery pack inside an electric GMC Hummer weighs 2,900 pounds alone - roughly the same as the average Honda Civic.
EV batteries make the vehicle weigh thousands of pounds more than the gas-powered alternative. Pictured: Machines assemble an EV battery at Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama
'Vehicle weights have been going up and now when you add all of the additional battery mass that is needed for electric vehicles … we are
