Modern EVs are getting too big and heavy for their own good.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy mentioned in her keynote speech to the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting that she is concerned about EVs' increasing size and weight, putting people's lives at greater risk.
The US' transportation sector is solely responsible for the largest portion of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, which makes purchasing an EV more appealing to the government to save the environment.
NTSB Chair Keynote Speech Details
Homendy said in her keynote speech that she is concerned about the increased risk of severe injury and death for all road users from heavier curb weights and increasing size, power, and performance of vehicles, including EVs.
She mentioned that the increased size and weight of modern EVs have a significant impact on safety for all road users, saying that EV automakers have to be careful about not
She then compared a GMC Hummer EV to an internal combustion engine (ICE) Honda Civic, saying that the former has a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,550 pounds, while the latter weighs only 2,900 pounds, the same weight as the former's battery pack.
She also pointed out that a Ford F-150 Lightning is between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds heavier than its ICE counterpart.
Homendy then said that while she supports and is inspired by the Biden administration's commitment to phasing out carbon emissions, automakers and the government have to be careful they aren't creating "unintended consequences" by doing so, such as more deaths.
Homendy's concerns are not unfounded, unfortunately. According to a Green Car Congress commentary, the chances of passengers dying in a collision increase 12% with every 1,102 pounds of weight difference. They were able to acquire this conclusion after calculating the mortality costs of the F-150 Lightning's extra 1,543 pounds over its ICE counterpart.
Although Green Car Congress is confident that the mortality costs will decrease as more EVs take to the roads, it is still a legitimate concern as long as EVs and ICE vehicles are sharing the roads with each other.
As a response to Homendy's speech, General Motors said that it always has the pssengers' safety in mind when developing and manufacturing its vehicles, which meet or even exceed all applicable motor vehicle safety standards, per Reuters.
Ford has yet to address Homendy's keynote speech as of press time.
How To Prevent Deaths Due To Es' Increased Size And Weight
As previously mentioned, the mortality cost of bigger and heavier EVs could decrease over time when more EVs enter the market and take to the roads, since there will be fewer ICE vehicles over time.
However, there is one other option that could accommodate EVs and ICE vehicles being on the same road: light batteries. According to Engadget, scientists are developing lighter lithium meal EV batteries that provide at least 33% more power pound per pound despite using lithium instead of graphite, which is heavier than the former.
Using denser solid-state batteries are also a probable solution to make EVs weigh less since they can achieve a similar range with a smaller pack.
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