The study compares occupant protection in hybrid, hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and allelectric vehicles (referred to collectively as EVs) to the protection offered by equivalent vehicle models powered by an internal combustion engine (ICE). Two series of moving car-to-moving car frontal offset tests were conducted, each with the THOR or Hybrid III 50th percentile male anthropomorphic test device (ATD) in the driver's seat and the Hybrid III 5th percentile female in the right front passenger seat. The first series consisted of 17 tests, each involving an EV impacting the equivalent ICE model at the same impact velocity. The second series consisted of five (5) pairs of tests, in which each EV and the equivalent ICE model impacted the same baseline striking vehicle. Statistically significant differences of EV/ICE pairs were found primarily in the upper body responses of the ATDs. Where differences were statistically significant, ATD measurements in ICE vehicles were slightly greater than those in EV counterparts. Occupant protection in EV models was found to be as good as or better than protection in ICE model equivalents.
Keywords:
crashworthiness; electric vehicles; frontal offset; hybrid vehicles; Hybrid III; THOR