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Comment by atlasunshrugged | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if this will end up hurting EVs disproportionately as my understanding is that they're usually a bit heavier than comparable ICE vehicles?

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While weight is bad, as far as pedestrian killing goes, height is even worse. A car hitting you in the knees is very different than one hitting you in the liver, in the spine, or straight on the ribcage. The pedestrian can also end up going under, instead of flipped over, and there's a big difference in damage.

The issue is that even EVs are being built taller, as we have a race to see over traffic.

That makes sense, and I do often wonder at the wisdom of the EV Hummer for road safety (and at who exactly is the person who both wants a hummer and an electric vehicle)

The kind of person who would have purchased a hydrogen Hummer if the filling infrastructure was in place? It's been a thing for a while.

Now lawmakers in Congress are expected to introduce a bill on Friday that would require federal standards for hood height and visibility to protect pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

I don't think that hood height and visibility are worse with EVs. EVs are heavier than comparable ICE vehicles because they contain dense batteries but they're not larger.

Ah sorry, in OPs comment he says "heavy-duty" which I took to mean as part of the descriptor for what would trigger a fine (as in weight) but on second reading I think he means that the fine itself should be large and is not discussing anything related to the weight of the vehicle.

Yep.

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