Highway guardrails across the nation were designed to catch, slow down, and stop vehicles that fall within an average range of weight. Unfortunately, the math behind those calculations only accounted for gas-powered vehicles, not electric vehicles (EVs). The problem is that EVs tend to be 35% heavier than gas-powered cars of the same size and similar design; EVs also have lower centers of gravity.
With the weight differential between EVs and gas-powered vehicles in mind, researchers from the University of Nebraska have reached a harrowing conclusion: the nation’s guardrails are not suited to stop most electric vehicles in a crash.
Tests at Nebraska’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility
In 2023, engineers, vehicle safety experts, and researchers from the University of Nebraska conducted a series of guardrail tests at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility. The goal was to continue similar testing done in 2018 that focused on throwing electric vehicles into standard steel guardrails like the kind drivers can see along nearly every highway in the country. The results were not very encouraging.
In one test at the facility, a 2022 Rivian R1T, an electric vehicle that weighs 3.6 metric tons, punched through the guardrail like it was paper. The vehicle lost very little speed during the collision with the guardrail and only came to a stop after it smashed into a concrete barrier on the other side of the testing stage. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center saw a strikingly similar result when it sent a Tesla sedan into a guardrail during a crash test, and the EV sailed cleanly underneath the guardrail, only to hit other barriers after.
Upon seeing the result of the Rivian R1T crash guardrail crash test, one member from the testing facility explained that it confirmed what was already known: “The system was not made to handle vehicles greater than 5,000 pounds.” For mathematical clarity, 3.6 metric tons is 7,200 pounds, or 44% heavier than what the guardrail was designed to stop.
A spokesperson for Rivian boasted that the interior of the vehicle looked hardly damaged after the test EV punched through the guardrail and slammed into the concrete barrier. While that may be true, the statement seems to overlook the purpose of guardrails, which is to stop a vehicle from leaving the road and hitting other motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, as well as putting the driver in more danger of secondary collisions.
Why are EVs So Heavy?
Electric vehicles tend to be much heavier than their gas-driven counterparts due to the weight of the battery banks that power them. In some of the smallest EVs, like the Tesla Model 3, the battery bank or battery pack weighs about 1,060 pounds. On the contrary, gasoline in a larger sedan with a 20-gallon tank will only weigh about 120 pounds when the tank is full.
What Needs to Change to Stop EV Guardrail Wrecks?
Two fixes to the EV guardrail problem immediately come to the minds of safety experts:
- Lighter EVs: Redesigning electric vehicles across the board to be lighter may need to become a major focus for the automotive industry. Practically every major vehicle brand is now selling at least one EV model, so this change would need to be industry-wide.
- Stronger guardrails: Across the nation, guardrails may need to be redesigned, improved, and replaced. While it might seem like an impossible undertaking, it was done once before in the ‘90s as the popularity of SUVs and pickup trucks surged. At the time, most guardrails were not equipped to stop these heavier vehicles, so vehicle safety agencies like the Department of Transportation got to work on redesigning guardrails to keep drivers safe.
No Plans to Update Guardrails Yet
Even as more and more electric vehicles are reported in crashes involving failed guardrails, little has been done to officially address the problem. When the University of Nebraska researchers released the results of its recent testing, the Federal Highway Administration refused to even leave a comment about it. At the time, both the government and EV manufacturers seem to plan to “watch and wait” for more people to get into EV crashes before deciding if a change is necessary.
To learn more about the growing problem of guardrail efficiency compared to EV weight, you can click here to view a full article published by U.S. News & World Report. If you were injured due to a defective guardrail in a crash involving an electric vehicle – as the driver, another motorist, or a pedestrian nearby – you should explore your legal options about pursuing compensation. Start by connecting with the trial attorneys of Hilliard Law, serving clients across Texas. Call (361) 882-1612 to request a no-cost consultation today.