We require noisy EVs for safety, but let’s stop the real killers: SUVs & gas
Much has been made of the supposed danger to pedestrians from quiet electric cars, to the point where the government now requires noisemakers on each EV model. But if we really want to save pedestrians, and everyone else, we need to target the actual culprits: big, pedestrian-killing SUVs and trucks, and the associated pollution they create.
The noisemaker rule has finally gone into effect, after being tweaked and pushed back over the course of several years. This has resulted in noisier EVs, each with its own noise (some worse than others), in the name of pedestrian safety.
NHTSA’s rule was based on a DOT analysis that showed hybrid vehicles to be 17% more likely to be involved in a pedestrian crash, when accounting for situational factors and vehicle age, though this analysis only included hybrid vehicles up through the 2011 model year. The law mandating the DOT to study and propose a rule for this dates back to 2010, when only a handful of electric cars were on the road in the US.
When implementing the noisemaker rule, NHTSA estimated these noisemakers will save 32 lives over the lifecycle of a single model year’s fleet. The rule requires noisemakers for EVs and hybrids when operating under 19 mph, the safest speeds for pedestrians. It does not require noisemakers or minimum decibel levels for gas-powered vehicles, even if those vehicles are equipped with engine stop/start or other technologies, which make the engine quieter or silent in certain situations, e.g., when slowing down and approaching an intersection, a place pedestrians are likely to be.
And as of February of this year, NHTSA has even opened an investigation into whether every electric vehicle since 1997 should be retrofitted, at some cost and difficulty, in order to comply retroactively with the noisemaker rule, in a way that virtually no other vehicle regulation has ever been implemented. The petition itself acknowledges there is no data yet showing relative danger from EVs that are not equipped with noisemakers.
What’s really deadly to pedestrians? SUVs
But there’s another common vehicle type that is 45% more likely to kill pedestrians: “light trucks,” a classification that includes SUVs and pickup trucks. Though “light” might be an odd word to apply, given that today’s SUVs are as large as literal tanks.
Light trucks are more deadly to pedestrians because they are larger and have higher hoods, resulting in decreased pedestrian visibility for drivers (with pedestrians obscured behind hoods, or behind other vehicles that are taller than the pedestrians or cyclists on the other side of them) and more deadly pedestrian impacts.
Cars are required to have bumpers designed for pedestrian safety, but light trucks have a different set of requirements. This leads to light trucks impacting pedestrians higher on the body, which causes more injury to the torso and head than the legs, resulting in deadlier collisions when a light truck is involved.
So not only are they more likely to hit pedestrians, but more deadly when they do.
And in fact, pedestrian death rates have skyrocketed in the US recently, up around 50% in the last decade, reaching the highest point in 40 years. Not coincidentally, SUV sales rates have increased in the same time frame. More deadly vehicles on the road have resulted in more pedestrian death, with the growth in SUVs responsible for killing at least a thousand pedestrians as of 2019 – which is a lot more than 32. Pedestrian deaths continued to rise sharply after 2019, so that number is surely significantly higher now.
The rise of SUVs is not solely a matter of consumer preference. Automakers use light truck exemptions to get out of emissions and safety rules and make more money, and actively push consumers toward these vehicles (even though barely anyone uses them for their intended purpose). How can Americans buy wagons, or city cars, or hatchbacks, when everything on the dealer lot is an SUV?
But running over people isn’t the only way that SUVs are dangerous; the pollution they make is orders of magnitude worse.
Noise itself is deadly
The DOT’s analysis of EV pedestrian safety explicitly did not consider environmental noise as a confounding factor to its research.
In a world choked with noise pollution from combustion engine vehicles, it stands to reason that quieter vehicles would be harder to hear. But if the world were not choked with noise pollution, those quieter vehicles would no longer be too quiet, they would be the norm. In a quieter world, EVs aren’t “harder to hear” once the sounds they make are no longer masked by the pathetic belching of combustion engines. Lower noise levels is a benefit of EVs, not a downside.
Noise itself is incredibly deadly to pedestrians – or rather, to everyone. Noise, mostly from cars but also from other combustion engines (airplanes, small off-road engines, etc.), greatly increases the rate of heart attacks in noisy areas, negatively affects the health of hundreds of millions of Americans, and is responsible for 12,000 premature deaths per year across Europe. Some research shows noise pollution to be just about as deadly as vehicle crashes overall.
The government even knows this to be the case, and has for some time, as it established the Office of Noise Abatement and Control through Congressional acts in the 1970s. This office was intended to study and regulate environmental noise in the US, but was – in a phrase that should be common to people who study social ills – defunded by Reagan in the ’80s.
So since noise is deadly, and since noise itself contributes to the problem the NHTSA wants to solve (by making it harder to hear quieter cars), then why don’t we work on making less noise instead of more?
And then, there’s air pollution
And finally, air pollution is deadlier than all of the above. And air pollution overwhelmingly comes from combustion engines.
Outdoor air pollution kills over 4 million people globally per year (including 100-200K in the US) and shortens global lifespans by two years. The health and environmental costs of fossil fuels add up to $5.3 trillion globally per year.
Much of this pollution and fossil fuel use comes from gasoline-powered vehicles, with larger vehicles like SUVs consuming more fuel and emitting more pollution than smaller vehicles (and tremendously more than zero-emission EVs). Vehicle pollution results in 4 million new cases of childhood asthma per year, sentencing these children to a lifetime of health issues.
Which brings up the point that this pollution is often not killing the people who emit it. Not only are children harmed for a lifetime by this despite not having contributed to this pollution, but environmental damage is disproportionately felt by the poor and is disproportionately emitted by the affluent.
This disparity was recently pointed out by the LA Times, in an article which Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized despite his company being one of the solutions to this problem (perhaps someone could remind him that he’s still CEO of Tesla?). We already have studies showing that more EVs means cleaner air (with each EV bringing ~$10K in societal health benefits), and we know that more gas cars means dirtier air – and more deaths.
So if you want to reduce deaths, I’ve got a proposal
We know that:
- Big cars kill more pedestrians by running them over.
- Noisy cars kill more people by increasing stress, and also cover up the noises made by cars that operate at a more appropriate volume.
- Big, noisy combustion engines kill a whole lot of people by choking them to death with pollution.
Which means these noisemakers aren’t the most effective solution to the problem they are meant to solve. More effective solutions involve doing something about noise, and about air pollution, and about big pedestrian-murdering vehicles.
This also means that EVs aren’t the only answer. While a Hummer EV, the least-efficient EV, uses about as much energy as a Toyota Prius, one of the most-efficient gas-powered vehicles, the Hummer EV also takes up more space and causes more pedestrian danger. The trend toward SUVs threatens to eliminate emissions reductions from electrification, and while electric SUVs are still vastly efficient than any gas car, they are less efficient than smaller electric cars.
If we truly want to make the world safer for pedestrians, there are a lot of things that we can do outside of noisemakers. A discordant symphony of clown-car sound effects at every intersection isn’t going to be the big change that makes the world more walkable or cyclable.
To do that, we should put cars (or transit) on the road that don’t hog as much space, that don’t obscure pedestrians and cyclists from the view of other drivers, that don’t make the world too loud to think straight, that don’t choke everyone with stinky exhaust. These steps will give people more confidence to use their legs to make use of these more efficient, healthier, cheaper transportation methods – once these myriad benefits are no longer overshadowed by the problem of huge land yachts increasingly trying to murder them.
So here’s a modest proposal for society: If every EV needs a noisemaker for the safety gains mentioned above, then we should also take every “light truck” off the road for even more safety. If we’re thinking about making the EV rule retroactive to 1997, then we can make the much more effective SUV rule retroactive to 1997 as well. Do the latter, and you can have the former.
And if you won’t, then it’s not really about safety, is it?
Featured photo by Charles Edward Miller
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This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes Tern’s NYC e-bike delivery fleet surpasses 1 million miles, the CPSC has a stark warning about Rad’s e-bike batteries, what parents should know if their kid wants a Sur Ron e-moto, JackRabbit MG Doble review, Strutt’s EV1 electric mobility chair, and more.
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The Port of Houston took a big step towards electrifying its operations this week, when the stevedores at Houston Terminal deployed the first new SANY electric reach stacker at the major seaside port – and it won’t be the last.
Multinational equipment brand SANY launched its latest 50-ton electric reach stacker earlier this summer. The new machine drew headlines by cleverly pairing gravity and a KERS-style regenerative braking system attacked to its boom to generate electricity as it lowers loads. The tech significantly improved the machine’s operating efficiency and reduced the sort of costs typically associated with charging and downtime.
With the purchase of the new SANY electric reach stacker from local equipment dealer, Equipment Depot, Houston Terminal has begun to do its part to help keep the air and water around America’s busy seaports pollution-free.
“In this market, there’s a shift towards sustainable equipment,” explains Greg Schertz, Sr. National Account Executive at Equipment Depot — a national equipment supplier that sells and services to roughly 85% of US sea ports. “Electric equipment is a growing trend, and it has become more than a conversation point. Actual machines are going into service and are proving their capability.”
Equipment Depot is quick to point out that the national move towards electrification isn’t about regulations. “The bigger picture is that the world has become more of a global market,” says Chad Larson, VP of Heavy Trucks and Port Equipment at Equipment Depot. “(And) in the port industry, there are many relationships and parent companies with ties into Europe and other parts of the world where zero carbon initiatives are more progressive than the US.”
Robert Marshall, General Manager of Houston Terminal, echoes Schertz’ sentiment, “Electric equipment has a much easier, much simpler maintenance program, because basically you’re just maintaining tires.”
SANY electric reach stacker
At its launch in August, SANY said its new 50t reach stacker would be available with a 512 kWh swappable battery pack. That pack isn’t just huge, it’s compatible with the brand’s other electric equipment assets, and can support both DC fast charging when swapping isn’t practical and the grid itself by “plugging in” to the company’s BESS modules when not needed.
Houston Terminal bought the SANY unit with help from a Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) Grant, part of TERP’s Seaport and Rail Yard Areas Emissions Reduction (SPRY) Program to replace older drayage trucks and equipment at seaports and rail yards. Houston Terminal intends to apply for another TERP grant to buy a second reach stacker in 2026.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Equipment Depot; via AJOT.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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The mining equipment experts at Sandvik have been developing next-generation electric equipment options for years – largely on their own. Now, with a €500 million capital injection from the EIB, the company is ready to get serious about its next-generation machinery.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the lending arm of the European Union (EU), and its core mission is to strengthen the global competitiveness, technological innovations, and sustainability initiatives of European companies like Sandvik by providing affordable financing for R&D projects conducted on the continent.
“We have a strong strategic focus on developing solutions that strengthen our technology leadership, and that enhances productivity, safety and sustainability for our customers,” explains Stefan Widing, President and CEO of Sandvik. “The EIB financing supports our R&D initiatives and provides flexibility to our overall funding strategy.”
The €500 million loan has a seven-year term, and will support Sandvik’s efforts to develop new advanced, productive, safe, and (above all) sustainable heavy equipment solutions across the company’s business lines.
Electrek’s Take
We’ve covered Sandvik’s electric equipment several times over the years, from their surface drill rigs to their underground loaders to their quarry- and concrete-focused electric cone plants, and the brand’s commitment to sustainability and operator safety has been commendable. Even the company’s push towards automation and AI, often seen as a corporate tactic to slash labor costs and boost stock prices before the executives bail out with a fat stack of cash fulfill their exit strategies, seems to be genuinely motivated by worker safety in one of the world’s most dangerous environments.
Of course, I said that about Volvo and they’re actively suing California to be able to sell more diesels as aI type this, so what do I know?
SOURCE | IMAGES: Sandvik.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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