U. Nebraska crash test results suggest US highway guardrails aren’t prepared for EVs
03 February 2024
In research sponsored by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln recently conducted a first-of-its-kind crash test of an EV pickup truck to understand better whether currently used guardrails and US military protection measures against hostile vehicles are prepared for the growing number of EVs.
Thousands of fatalities result each year from more than 100,000 run-off-road crashes involving traffic infrastructure such as roadside barriers.
There is some urgency to address this issue. As the percentage of EVs on the road increases, the proportion of run-off-road crashes involving EVs will increase, as well.
—Cody Stolle, assistant director of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility
A crash test performed on a guardrail on 12 October 2023, highlighted the concern. At 60 mph, the 7,000-plus-pound, 2022 Rivian R1T truck tore through the barrier with little reduction in speed. In a separate test conducted in September, a 2018 Tesla Model 3 sedan lifted the guardrail and passed below it, coming to rest behind the barrier.
Additional crash tests are planned. Afterward, transportation officials, defense experts and Midwest Roadside Safety Facility researchers will collaborate to determine next steps to accommodate the anticipated changes in America’s vehicle fleet. Auburn University’s Transportation Research Institute, where former Husker transportation researcher Larry Rilett is now director, is also a partner in the research effort.
The guardrail system that was tested features a 12-gauge corrugated steel guardrail attached to 6-inch deep steel posts, anchored to the rail with blockouts 8- to 12-inches thick. The top of the rail is 31 inches above the road.
Designed as an inexpensive, high-performing barrier, the tested guardrail system, the Midwest Guardrail System (MGS) was developed at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility in response to barrier ruptures and rollovers with older systems.
The MGS has been tested with small cars that weigh up to 2,400 pounds and pickups that weigh 5,000 pounds. Up until now, little has been known about how the system will perform in crashes involving EVs, which typically weigh 20% to 50% more than gas-powered vehicles, with lower centers of gravity.
Midwest Roadside Safety Facility research suggests that EVs are involved in run-off-road crashes at about the same rate and about the same speeds as gasoline vehicles. That would mean an EV crashing into a roadside barrier could have 20% to 50% more impact energy.
UNL has led several efforts to create next-generation barriers. Besides the MGS, the Husker research team, led by former director Dean Sicking and current director Ron Faller, also developed the Steel and Foam Energy-Reducing, or SAFER, barrier, improving race car track safety and saving race car drivers’ lives. The SAFER barrier was even installed in the Rose Bowl during an exhibition racing event.
Today’s challenge is to again adapt roadside barriers to match the mix of heavier electric vehicles, lighter gasoline vehicles, taller SUVs and pickups, and smaller cars. Fulfilling the challenge requires collaboration with diverse backgrounds in defense, transportation, design and crash safety.
UNL’s research will contribute to the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s vision through testing, simulation and design. Industry partnerships including Caresoft Global, which gave Husker researchers access to a critical database on current vehicles, including EVs, and Ansys’ LS-DYNA program used with UNL’s supercomputer system, will kick-start work on the next generation of roadside safety systems.
We need to know as much as we can now because it takes time to design new systems, evaluate them and confirm those results with full-scale crash testing. Then, state departments of transportation around the country can begin the process of upgrading roadside barriers to new versions with more robustness.
—Cody Stolle
The Rivian et al are ludicrous fat arsed fake eco mobiles.
There is nothing so good that it can't be messed.
Small and light are the keys to ecology, and efficient transport.
In America is particular, but also to an extent in Europe, there is a death race to drive the biggest, heaviest cars as they will come off better in collisions with smaller dinosaurs.
Not to metion lethal impact with their high bonnets on pedestrians.
Or massive batteries with their waste of scarce and often poisonous materials.
Posted by: Davemart | 03 February 2024 at 12:45 PM
The only way this bizarre test could be valid is if they had done it with an F-150 and a Lightning. My guess is both tests would look almost identical. As it stands EVs are less likely to have accidents or hitting poorly designed barriers at extreme angles. As EV owners already know this, they will not be losing too much sleep over it. I await Rivian's response with interest.
Posted by: Bernard Harper | 04 February 2024 at 02:41 AM
@Bernard:
' The MGS has been tested with small cars that weigh up to 2,400 pounds and pickups that weigh 5,000 pounds. Up until now, little has been known about how the system will perform in crashes involving EVs, which typically weigh 20% to 50% more than gas-powered vehicles, with lower centers of gravity.
Midwest Roadside Safety Facility research suggests that EVs are involved in run-off-road crashes at about the same rate and about the same speeds as gasoline vehicles. That would mean an EV crashing into a roadside barrier could have 20% to 50% more impact energy. '
I am unable to understand what you imagine is invalid about this, or what you expect Rivian to say.
That their cars are far lighter in fact than the weights they have registered?
Posted by: Davemart | 04 February 2024 at 03:29 AM
There's nothing controversial about this research. Roadside safety barriers need to change over time, as the vehicle mix changes. As noted in the article, the mix is forecast to change from heavy/tall SUVs to heavy/lower EVs over the next few years.
Previously it shifted from low sedans to tall SUVs. Barriers need to take that sort of stuff into account. You wouldn't want barriers that are designed for a Model T, or a horse and buggy.
I would think that newer cars with assisted steering would be less likely to crash into barriers, but maybe single-car crashes represent a tiny portion of barrier impacts. Or maybe that kind of tech hasn't made it to the Midwest yet (they being famously thrifty and change-averse!).
Posted by: Bernard | 04 February 2024 at 05:51 AM
EVs are typically lighter than gas powered pickups and have a much lower CoG. They are also far more stable and crash worthy. So the real issue here is why these barriers are causing problems that would not be found with European designs. You are less likely to leave the road in any EV and have higher survivability if you do. So why is it that EV design is considered problematic here but the barrier design is not being questioned? In Europe these barriers are built to contain heavy trucks. So similar designs should have no problem with family sized EVs. Rivian style trucks should have less accidents and higher survivability too. So what is the problem?
Posted by: Bernard Harper | 04 February 2024 at 08:58 AM
@Bernard Harper said:
' EVs are typically lighter than gas powered pickups and have a much lower CoG.'
Please provide the data on which you base your claim, since you seem determined to compare one massively unecological absurdity with its would be replacement, which would appear to be even worse on several counts, in spite of vast subsidy to purportedly clean things up;
And yes, I am fully aware that running on gas is awful for the environment.
Its replacement does not have to be 7000lbs of faux-eco resource gobbling, with the latest nonsense 'merely' involving substantially replacing crash barriers, hardly a GHG free alternative, any more than producing thousansds of pounds of batteries is.
Posted by: Davemart | 04 February 2024 at 10:14 AM
The issue isn't weight. After all, US interstates are full of tractor trailers. The problem is that EVs carry their batteries very low, so the mass of these batteries will hit the barriers close to the ground.
Don't forget that these barriers aren't used everywhere. If you've driven through the Mid-West, you'll know that most of the interstate system goes through giant corn fields with no physical barrier, other than a drainage ditch. The barriers mentioned here are mainly used in rural mountainous areas with sharp drop-offs.
Bernard H: I'm sure the EU has its own regulations for impact barriers. The article doesn't mention these standards, but no doubt they also need to be reviewed on a regular basis.
Posted by: Bernard | 05 February 2024 at 08:31 AM