Light vehicle safety, the critical issue for ecologic and economic mobility

Abstract:

Research question:

Today, the quest for a more sustainable mobility associates vulnerable modes like cycling or e-scooters with the electrification of cars: their battery weight leads to increased risks for vulnerable road users or for old cars, as new cars are heavier. The weight effect is measurable in France, but already dramatic for the USA, where 7500 pedestrians are now killed every year, mainly by SUVs, or “Light Trucks” …

This inequality in front of mobility risks is important between social categories, generations and genders, as female are using smaller cars. This safety inequality will dramatically increase, as it is only the beginning: electric cars will be generalised, in front of vulnerable road users but also light electric vehicles to be deployed… To keep mobility sustainable, these light vehicles will reduce material and energy consumption, but also costs for affordability.

This safety impact has to be explained, simulated and anticipated, to be then limited …

Methodology:

The issue is not the vehicle technology, but the vehicle characteristics in front of the future car park, moving progressively to a high heterogeneity in terms of weight and age, creating huge compatibility issues, especially in case of a disbalanced head-on accident.

This research work decomposes the complexity of crashes and park statistics to explain the physical effects of weight heterogeneity among the vehicle park, simulated around three categories of vehicles, small, medium and large: based on this analysis, some paths have been identified.

Main findings:

The associated costs are not affordable for the public power, especially the care of a growing number of citizens, mainly young, with huge impact on the economy.

This inequality is coming directly from physical laws and cannot be erased, but reduced: some actions are urgent like empty weight limitation, when others are requesting a public awakening and a paradigm change to promote research and innovation.

The deployment of Affordable Safe Electric Vehicles for a really sustainable mobility is difficult for three main reasons:

1. Safety risk and associated responsibility, as light vehicles will drive among heavy vehicles
2. Attractivity issue on the market, as a small battery limits both power and performance
3. Development initialisation, as requesting to invest in this domain without a clear regulation

Societal significance:

The current trends have to be stopped to preserve our future, the ability of normal citizens to move in our country where the living is dispersed, with an acceptable level of safety, for them but also for the authorities in charge of public health. Our ageing society should have to protect young citizens, but is doing the contrary when pushing young road users on e-scooters, in old cars, or in the future light electric vehicles, for ecologic reasons.

Our society will not be able to live without small, electric and affordable vehicles, and they will have also to be safe in front of the future car park, which is a huge technical challenge: research and innovation will be necessary to develop new solutions, introducing “integrated safety”, so new protection devices to be deployed before the crash, when it becomes unavoidable, with a leading role for tier ones...

To protect our future, we will have to take our responsibilities!