Hertz recently announced it was selling 20,000 electric cars out of its fleet, and replacing them with gasoline vehicles. One reason the company gave was that drivers kept crashing the cars. . . . Hertz statements echoed findings by insurance analysts at LexisNexis who found that, when vehicle owners switch from gasoline-powered cars to electric cars, they tend to crash more. Drivers also tend to crash somewhat more when switching to gas-powered vehicles, but the increase is more pronounced with EVs. The frequency of insurance claims rises by about 14.3% while the severity of claims, or the amount that has to be paid out, increases by 14.5%, according to the data.
The increase in incidents is highest during the first year or so after drivers get the new electric vehicle, but then tapers off after that, according to LexisNexis, presumably as people get used to driving the new model. . . . 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.
This mostly means Teslas, the only electric car Hertz used and the majority of all electric vehicles sold in the US. What would be causing the crashes?
The two things that people have noted are, 1) electric cars don't have any engine noise or vibration when sitting still, and some accidents may happen because people didn't realize the car was on, and 2) performance. A Tesla sedan looks like an ordinary car but it accelerates like a Ferrari, and that may be a factor.
And maybe the thrill of driving cutting-edge technology makes people wonky.
I also wonder if there are just issues with Teslas, which a lot of car guys say are badly built. But the article I got this from says accidents also go up when people switch to electric in China, so Tesla-specific problems aren't the whole story.
3 comments:
I wonder if people who switch from economy vehicles to performance vehicles see a similar jump in crash rates.
Heck, rental car companies probably have lots of data on that - Joe Schmoe decides to rent a Ferrari for a weekend, gets drunk on the horsepower, and in his overconfidence wraps it around a tree.
Driving a performance vehicle involves a whole different kind of experience to do well. Anytime you give a machine more power and speed, the potential for error goes up dramatically.
They forgot the car was on? Where are they sitting, in their driveway? The garage? Or did they think they turned off the engine while waiting for a light to change?
@Shadow- the reason they made it so that you can't put your car in drive without having your foot on the brake is that there used to be lots of accidents caused when people put the car in gear while having their foot on the accelerator without realizing it. So, yes, in their driveways, or in parking lots. I imainge that is the kind of thing we are talking about.
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