Unfortunately, a guardrail is not able to stop a Rivian weighing more than 3,100 kg, and that is starting to become worrying.
It should come as no surprise that Americans are immediately crazy about electric pickups. It is still the most popular car type there, so when more than five brands already promise to transfer your daily pickup tasks to an EV, that sounds like a good idea. Traditional brands such as Ford, RAM and Chevrolet/GMC have already presented and partly sold their trucks, but new(er) brands such as Tesla and Rivian are also making their contribution.
Weight
The only problem is how that initial wave of trucks came about. Most brands have tried to at least add a large battery, which does have a significant impact on the weight. The GMC Hummer EV is an extreme case, but it became clear that this 4.5 ton(!) weighing giant is actually way too much of a good thing. With such a gigantic battery, the entire impact on the energy cycle is much more environmentally harmful than an average petrol car.
Safety
The US Department of Defense released to conduct a study by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The ministry is concerned about the increasing weight of cars and pickups, especially for safety reasons. The concerns are mainly about the guardrails. They do their job well with an average passenger car from years ago, but do they also do their job against the violence that a 3,200 kg heavy truck has to offer? See for yourself.
You might think that the investigation is an episode of 'Breaking Things', but that is of course because guardrails cannot actually hold such a Rivian. As you can see, the Rivian experiences no impact-absorbing effect of the guardrail at all: it floats right through it and even flies over the concrete block behind it. We must say that the Rivian still absorbs the blow reasonably well for the occupants, but it is certainly a violent blow and the (non-)function of the guardrail is evident.
According to the research, an EV that hits a guardrail has about 20 to 50 percent more impact than an average ICE car. The new challenge for the local safety authority is therefore to develop a new crash barrier that can absorb more force. The Ministry of Defense is happy to help with the developments they have made to see whether they can help in daily traffic.
This article Rivian crushes guardrail, army is concerned first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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