Electric cars are always modern vehicles that are equipped with the latest technologies that improve driving safety. For example, they have advanced driver assistance systems that interact with the driver and help avoid accidents. It would seem that drivers of such cars should be less likely to get into accidents. However, studies show the opposite – drivers of gasoline and diesel cars are less likely to cause accidents. At first glance, this seems illogical, but scientists have named possible reasons for such statistics.
Electric car drivers get into accidents more often due to their own fault. Photo source: repost.uz
How often do electric cars get into accidents
The recent study was conducted by the Irish Science Foundation Software Research Centre at the University of Limerick and the University of Barcelona. It used data from 125 million commercial fleet trips. The trips involved more than 14,000 vehicles registered between January 2022 and October 2022 in the Netherlands.
The team also used a dataset of insurance claims for the same period. The analysis of claims showed that electric cars are 4% more likely to get into accidents than cars with internal combustion engines. But hybrid drivers are even more likely to be at fault in accidents — the difference with traditional cars is 6%. Of course, the numbers are quite small, but they can hardly be attributed to statistical error.
Hybrid cars get into accidents even more often than electric cars. Image source: dzen.ru
Electric cars have a lower average mileage than cars with internal combustion engines
During their work, the researchers were able to compare a variety of indicators of cars with internal combustion engines and electric cars. One of these indicators was the average mileage. It turned out to be lower for electric cars and hybrids than for cars with internal combustion engines, despite the fact that the age of all the cars was approximately the same. Most likely, this is due to the recharging of electric cars, which takes quite a long time and is required often.
This means that electric cars should have less wear and tear. Accordingly, they should be safer and have a reduced risk of getting into an accident due to their own fault. We have previously talked about other reasons why electric cars are safer.
However, as mentioned above, electric cars still get into accidents more often. Scientists were able to establish the reasons for this by analyzing insurance claims and data from the on-board sensors of the cars themselves.
There are several reasons why electric car drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents. Photo source: devby.io
Why electric car drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents
As the authors of the work report in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, as a result of analyzing the data obtained, they came to a number of key conclusions. One of them is that drivers of electric cars behave differently on the road than drivers of cars with internal combustion engines. Most likely, this is due to the cars themselves.
You probably thought that the driving style of electric car drivers is more risky. But in fact, this is not the case. According to the results of the study, drivers of electric cars accelerate and brake abruptly less often. In addition, they exceed the speed limit and enter turns at high speed less often. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they try to save energy. This factor should also significantly improve traffic safety.
Obviously, the increased risk of accidents is caused by something else. There are several well-founded assumptions on this account. For example, researchers have found that electric cars are more often the subject of complaints about their malfunctions, compared to traditional vehicles. It can be assumed that the technical condition of some electric cars is one of the reasons. However, this factor is unlikely to play a significant role.
Some drivers find driving an electric car more stressful than driving a regular car. Photo source: iz.ru
As mentioned above, hybrid drivers get into accidents due to their own fault even more often than electric car drivers. Having compared all the indicators of the cars, the researchers found that hybrids do not have any problems associated with an increased risk of insurance claims (and therefore the risk of getting into an accident). This means that accidents more often occur due to the drivers themselves.
This is consistent with the results of some other studies. For example, a 2016 study found that 22% of drivers found the mental workload of driving an electric car more stressful than driving a car with an internal combustion engine. The study also found that drivers were distracted by the controls of electric cars, which are slightly different from those of traditional cars.
In addition, electric cars pose a greater danger to pedestrians than conventional cars. This is due to the fact that they operate much quieter. For this reason, pedestrians often do not hear the sound of an approaching car. A 2024 study found that electric cars collide with pedestrians more than two and a half times more often than cars with internal combustion engines.
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According to the researchers, all of the above facts should be taken into account by regulators, manufacturers, businesses and the general public when assessing the cost of switching from traditional cars to electric vehicles.