Why do EVs crash more than gas powered vehicles | Hacker News Reader

Why do EVs crash more than gas powered vehicles

cnn.com

8 pointseriktrautman18 comments

The quote from the article that contradicts the headline:

> The Highway Loss Data Institute, a US-based organization funded by the insurance industry, has not found higher crash rates for Tesla vehicles or other EVs more broadly based on overall insurance claims.

The actual thing the headline is misrepresenting is that people who switch cars apparently crash more when they are getting used to the new model, and that increase seems slightly higher when switching from ICE to EV.

This is a new twist on Betteridge's law for headlines. "The question in the headline contains a false assumption."

Its no wonder, considering the amount of acceleration a tesla has on tap would have made it a hyper car just 25 years ago.

25 years ago, hypercars were over 4 seconds and that required quite a bit of talent/practice and risking destroying the clutch.

A few years later there were three cars that could do under 3 seconds, one of which was little more than a tubular chassis and drivetrain. Another was a kit car and the third was the most expensive production vehicle in the world (Veyron.) The current Veyron, incidentally, loses to both a Lucid Air and Model S Plaid.

These days a lot of production sports cars are in the 3-4 second territory. The amount of power and acceleration available is insane and completely unnecessary / inappropriate for the street.

I find I am more likely to crash in a Tesla than in other cars because it's much harder to keep a constant speed, so I have to focus on the speedometer a lot more. There are 2 reasons for this. The regenerative braking is hard to get used to, but the bigger problem is the lack of a speed limiter function.

I can engage the cruise control & even autopilot on highways, but on local roads I get loads of random phantom breaking events. The lane markings are not great and often there are cycle lanes, bus stops etc. The car will see a pedestrian walking along the side of the road and slam on the brakes. Or a cyclist. Sometimes it just suddenly slows for no apparent reason. I end up looking down at the screen to see what it thinks it's seeing, and slamming on the accelerator to make sure I get back up to speed.

In my ICE car or the Nissan Leaf I sometimes use, I can set the speed limit to 30 or 20 as appropriate and then just drive foot to the floor and know I'll just drive at that speed. When I have to slow down for a cyclist or whatever I just release the pedal, maybe use the brake, then accelerate again and I am still fine.

I do wish the cars would be able to set the speed limiter based on the current speed limit from the maps in the SatNav. The Tesla can use this for the cruise control, meaning you are unexpectedly accelerated when you reach a faster section of road, and you have to tap the brakes to regain control, cancelling the whole mode you were driving in, and putting you immediately into regenerative braking, even if you just want to keep the same speed.

Or just a simple toggle "keep this speed, let me take of everything else" option.

It's great when tech-assist features work. I look forward to the day that do reliably. Until then (and frankly, even if then), they absolutely need ways to toggle them off, with granularity. Smart features shouldn't replace "dumb" features, just augment/build atop them.

No. I want a speed limiter, something that means I can drive freely and worry about my high speed, not something that keeps the car going even when I take my foot off the gas.

I mean, I guess that might be better than Tesla's randomly slowing down then unexpectedly accelerating again mess, but a simple limiter is far better. The Tesla even has one, but you can't activate it or change it's speed except by going into the valet menu and assigning a PIN. It needs to be adjustable while you are driving with the controls on or around the wheel so that you can set it when the speed limit changes.

That falls under what I commented with regard to having more granular control of said smart features.

For the curious, the article is talking about crash data from hertz and its electric rental fleet.

I can tell you the reason why, EVs are a new type of driving and most people are unaccustomed to it.

Particularly the way coasting works. If you let off of the throttle, regenerative braking takes over and can bring a car to a stop as fast as a braking.

Sure this can be changed but most people who drive rental cars don't want to spend the time learning how to configure a car they will only use for a few days.

The fact that hertz forced EVs as the cheapest option instead of as a niche one was why I switched to other agencies. I don't want to deal with charging and any of the lifestyle changes that come with ev ownership. That's not a knock at EVs, that's just the consequence of only using a unique vehicle for a few days.

This article looks like rampant speculation about which differences between Teslas and other vehicles would cause the observed crash disparity. Some other society-level stats which might be of interest:

(1) Tesla drivers skew heavily male (70+%), and male drivers are much higher risk (2-3x, though not as dramatically different when older)

(2) Tesla drivers skew upper-middle class, the Tesla itself isn't cheap, and people who drive more expensive cars tend to drive worse (could be confounded by gender or other factors, but when uncorrected it's a correlation that exists).

(3) Teslas are insanely heavy. Pickup trucks have higher crash rates than sedans too.

And so on. Is there a better version of this article that tries to study why there are more crashes rather than just guess?

> Electric vehicles can also have so-called “one-pedal driving”

Not sure why that was almost at the end, especially after

> Crashes are even more frequent in households with both a gas and an electric model, indicating that regularly switching from one to another exacerbates the issues.

I own one Japanese import minivan and one UK car. My odds of activating the indicator or wiper first time (in any vehicle) is somehow worse than 50%.

But at least the brakes are on the same side.

From my own experience seeing people switch from ICE vehicles to EVs, I would guess this comes down to people not being used to one-pedal driving / regenerative braking.

And probably also going 0-60 in under 4 seconds after their last car might have required flooring it to change lanes.

Related discussion, from yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39050163

Why was the headline changed from "Teslas crash more than gas-powered cars"? The article even states that it's "Mostly a Tesla thing".

Where I live (a new-construction suburb near the seattle tech hub), I notice a HUGE percentage of recently migrated Indian drivers drive brand new Teslas.

I also notice a large percentage of those new teslas have "New Driver" bumper stickers.

Based on this small geo/population study, I would expect tesla drivers in my area to have an accident rate that looks more similar to the new driver accident rate typically seen in teens (though maybe without as much recklessness)

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