Also electric saws are a damn hazard compared to gas saws. They cut right through safety chaps, no problem.
Ouch! I assume that's a combination between the higher torque of an electric motor and shoddy low cost Chinese engineering?
Electric motors on the other hand produce peak torque at 0 RPM, so it's way harder to bring them to a standstill.
Many of these electric chainsaws are premium brands and still have this problem- to my knowledge there are no electric chainsaws that have a safety feature designed to make sure chaps work.
The clever safety feature that could be engineered to help make these safer is to add a torque sensor to the motor that cuts off power if excessive torque is sensed. This excessive torque condition would hopefully be calibrated to not have any nuisance shutoffs, but can still stop the saw when needed for safety.
Electric saws deliver uniform power and don't have this quirk.
I would expect commercial-grade electric chainsaws to use similar technology, and that they could be programmed to cut power in the event of a sudden speed reduction, mimicking the safety of a gas engine. But what do I know.