LINCOLN, Neb. — Electric vehicles that typically weigh more than gasoline-powered cars can easily crash through steel highway guardrails that are not designed to withstand the extra force, raising concerns about the nation’s roadside safety system, according to crash test data released Wednesday by the University of Nebraska.
Electric vehicles typically weigh 20% to 50% more than gas-powered vehicles thanks to batteries that can weigh almost as much as a small gas-powered car. And they have lower centers of gravity. Because of these differences, guardrails can do little to stop electric vehicles from pushing through the barriers typically made of steel.
Electric Vehicles-Road Safety
A 2022 Rivian R1T goes over a guard rail during crash-test research by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the University of Nebraska on Oct. 12 in Lincoln, Neb. The tests raised concerns that the nation’s roadside guardrails are no match for new heavy electric vehicles.
Last fall, engineers at Nebraska’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility watched as an electric-powered pickup truck hurtled toward a guardrail installed on the facility’s testing ground on the edge of the local municipal airport. The nearly 4-ton 2022 Rivian R1T tore through the metal guardrail and hardly slowed until hitting a concrete barrier yards away on the other side.