Significant advantages of electric vehicles 04.09.2013

The largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, Tesla Motors, develops electric vehicles from scratch, that is, it does not remake ordinary cars, but initially designs cars for electric traction. Thanks to some features, "thoroughbred" electric vehicles turned out to be much safer than even the recognized leaders in the automotive market. Thus, the Tesla Model S electric car in the American NHTSA crash test scored 5,4 stars and surpassed all cars that have ever been tested in all respects. What's more, typically only about 1% of test vehicles score 5 stars, and the Tesla S sedan not only set a new record for the lowest chance of injury to the driver and passengers, but also surpassed the safety of cars in another class - SUVs and minivans.

Thus, it became obvious that there is a way to seriously improve the safety of vehicles and electric vehicles have advantages in this regard. How did Tesla engineers manage to achieve such high performance? First of all, thanks to the "convenience" of the electric car in terms of choosing its layout. The electric car does not have a heavy engine under the hood - a small, about 30 cm in size, electric motor is located near the rear axle of the car. This created a much larger crumple zone ahead than conventional cars, which dramatically increases the chances of surviving a frontal collision. In the crash test video, it is noticeable how, after a frontal impact at a speed of 56 km / h, the bumper crumbles, but the windshield, front doors and the front wheel axle remain intact. The aluminum bodywork, including the sheet protecting the bottom, took the impact without visible deformation.

The most difficult test, side-on-pole impact, the electric car withstood perfectly thanks to an additional set of aluminum profiles, similar in design to those developed for the Apollo lander. Compared to the Volvo S60 sedan, which also scored 5 stars in all crash test categories, the Tesla S retains 63,5% of the remaining space around the driver intact in a side impact, and the leader among conventional cars, the Volvo S60 - 7,8%. Residual space is a "living" area into which, in the event of an accident, no parts of the vehicle must penetrate. In fact, this is the zone in which the body of the driver or passenger is located during the accident.

The safety rating of the Tesla S electric car was higher than any other production car. The risk of injury in an electric vehicle under standard test conditions is only 7%.

Crash tests on impact to the rear of the electric car were also successful thanks to the double bumper. The rollover test was the most pleasant surprise: the electric car was never rolled over by the conventional means used in the NHTSA test. Due to the very low center of gravity (the batteries are located at the very bottom of the car) and the weight distribution of 48/52, the electric car did not want to roll over. An electric car is estimated to have a 50% lower risk of tipping over than a conventional car. In addition, none of the test impacts resulted in a fire in the electric vehicle's battery pack.

Tesla car tests show that electric vehicles have another important advantage. Usually they discuss the range, price, service life and other characteristics of electric vehicles. But they forget that engineers have much more opportunities to protect the driver and passengers of electric vehicles than people traveling in gasoline and diesel cars.