**To watch Senator Capito’s questioning, click here or on the image above.**

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, questioned national transportation leaders during a Surface Transportation, Maritime, Freight and Ports Subcommittee hearing titled, “Examining the Roadway Safety Crisis and Highlighting Community Solutions.”

During her questions, Senator Capito asked the officials about the fatality risks posed by electric vehicles (EVs) in potential crashes, as EVs have heavy batteries that often cause EVs to weigh more than gas-powered vehicles in the same class. The increased weight of EVs creates the potential for more deadly accidents resulting from heavier weight colliding with crash victims.

HIGHLIGHTS:

ON DANGERS POSED BY EVS IN A CRASH DUE TO THEIR HEAVIER WEIGHT:

SEN. CAPITO: “Here's the one thing that I haven't heard: I haven't heard one person mention the increased weight of an electric vehicle. The president has said that by 2030, we are going to have 50% of our cars are going to be electric vehicles… There's a study out there that says baseline fatality possibility increases 47% for every 1000 pounds added to a car. So, we can't regulate- or we can’t legislate, if we reach these goals, which are doubtful, but are going in that direction, if we're looking at heavier vehicles. I mean, this has been brought to my attention by our own West Virginia DOT [Department of Transportation]. Can the guardrails withstand the impacts? Dr. Sandt said that when you talked about fatalities, it’s mass versus velocity. You aren’t slowing down, and, if you've been in an electric car, those things get up and go pretty daggone fast. What are we gonna do about this? And does anybody have suggestions?”

ON PROACTIVE STEPS SAFETY LEADERS HAVE TAKEN TO MAKE EVS SAFER:

SEN. CAPITO: “I’m not really debating EVs versus— I'm saying these are heavier vehicles that are gonna result in more fatalities and we're talking about safety.”

JAKE NELSON, DIRECTOR OF TRAFFIC SAFETY ADVOCACY AND RESEARCH AT THE AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (AAA): “Understood, but you're speaking our language, because we've been giving a lot of thought to the potential safety implications of proliferating passenger vehicle fleet involving EVs, and you highlighted issues about stopping distance, how quickly these vehicles can reach higher speeds, potential degradation of the built infrastructure, just think of a parking garage full of EVs-”

SEN. CAPITO: “Right, well, one that collapsed in New York City, yeah.”

DIRECTOR NELSON: “And then just size and weight issues-”

SEN. CAPITO: “So, I’m not hearing any solutions here to how we're going to-”

DIRECTOR NELSON: “Well, I don't think we have solutions yet, because we don't have a high penetration of EVs in the U.S. fleet. But, certainly, they’re- you know- we should be approaching this as a ‘first do no harm’ kind of a policy move. And we haven't seen, at AAA, much effort into thinking through how to proactively address these implications on our infrastructure, but also on safety. We've seen no action.”

SEN. CAPITO: “I mean, I just think it would be smart to be talking about this right now in terms of these types of vehicles, because if any of the goals are actually met, this will be a large part of our fleet.”

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