Interesting Article On Current Guardrails Vs EVs

[Lomilar]

I thought the primary issue with guard rails is that that the weight of an EV is in line with the battery, which is a significantly lower center of gravity, so the battery does the skateboard thing and goes under the guardrail and takes out the supports.

The weight.... doesn't help, but my understanding was that it's how the weight applies to the crash. EV cars center of mass is like a sports car, but they aren't light like a sports car.

I would expect the lightning doesn't suffer from this, as the battery weight is in line with the body --- the heavy part of the vehicle, which is (comparatively) elevated.

Edit: It occurs to me that having the majority of weight inline with the wheels (without an engine to absorb impact and slam against the firewall) may cause the Lightning to behave like we saw the Rivian where the wheels caused it to bounce over or through the various barriers, instead of cleanly impacting.

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[ZeusDriver]

Here is an example of the histrionics and sloppy reporting from this article:

>>Electric vehicles are literally changing the physics of roadway safety. Their added weight accelerates damage to roadway pavement, increasing the risk of accidents.<<

If you click on their link, you get an article that talks only about heavy trucks, not EVs. The range of GVW in the article was from 54,000 lbs to 132,000 lbs. Pavements are designed for weights that are many times higher than those of a EV. The lightest of those vehicles is approximately 10 times the weight of an average EV.

 

[Landscaper]

All these people act like HD pickup trucks don't exist. Lol. It's hilarious. We've had 7,000 to 9,000 lb. pickup trucks running up and down U.S. roads for decades. And they number in the hundreds of millions. In terms of weight, EVs are not presenting anything new that isn't already in existance today.

However what I will say is that what we ARE having to do now is increase the height of guard rails and bridge side barriers. This is because there are more trucks and SUVs being built today with off-road packages that increase their ride height. The average vehicle today is taller than 30 years ago. And so that has to be compensated for with barrier height.

I work with a lady who is missing her left leg from the knee down. In 2015 she was driving her small gasoline car down I-64 to school to take the ACT test on a Saturday morning. She lost control in a curve, hit the guard rail at a roughly 45 degree angle, and broke the guard rail which then went right through the floorboard and severed her leg. And that was a car that probably weighs around 3,200 lbs.

So your argument is that guardrails should be redesigned because vehicles have gotten taller, but not because virtually all vehicles are now heavier too?

 

[ZeusDriver]

A reasonable estimate of the CG height of an F150 Lightning is 26 inches above the road. An ICE F150 CG is about 30". Those figures are much higher than for any average sedan, ICE or otherwise. (So any argument based on CG being "too low" does not apply.)

The CG of my old Durango and the CG of my Tesla Model Y were probably within 2" of one another, and both had CGs slightly higher than an average sedan, the Tesla being quite tall. (Camry: 56" tall, Tesla MYLR: 64" ). (The Durango was, incidentally, heavier than the Model Y. )

For an article like this to have any value at all, the precise cg height would need to be specified for all these cars that the writer imagines are "too low". Then compare those to the cg height of a Corvette, a Miata, a Dodge Viper, any Ferrari, etc, etc, all of which have been considered in the design of guard rails. (There would also need to be a link to an SAE article that describes all the issues involved in appropriate guardrail design. )

The reason paper and online publications exist is to make money, by virtue of clicks and readership (and from that, ad revenue). What bleeds leads. Truth went out of fashion when Walter Cronkite left broadcasting.

Don't run into guard rails with any car or truck no matter how low or high its CG is. And especially, don't hit them on a motorcycle.

 

[Scorpio3d]

My lariat ER with less than 100 pounds of stuff inside 6920 lbs!

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