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Tesla's Inherent Safety Saves Five Joyriding Teenagers In Germany (arstechnica.com)
According to German newspaper Merkur, one 18-year old and four of her friends lost control of her father's Model S electric vehicle. The car reportedly flew more than 80 feet into a field before it came to a stop. Even though the driver and two of the passengers were airlifted to hospitals, none of their injuries were life-threatening, thanks largely in part to Tesla's skateboard chassis. Ars Technica writes, "The skateboard chassis used by the Model S and Model X is extremely safe, with crumple zones that are unconcerned with engines that can transfer kinetic energy into the passengers during a frontal collision." The images of the crash are not pretty, but one could imagine how much worse they would be if a front-engined internal combustion vehicle were involved instead of the Tesla Model S.
Next up: Tesla inherent awesomeness saves puppies.
I recall an anecdote from a few years ago. Apparently, the Model S uses a variety of weld for its frame/roll cage that was previously only used in spacecraft. When the NHTSA went to do its rollover safety tests by crushing in the roof of the Model S to simulate how it would hold up in a roll, their crushing machine broke before the Tesla did. The NHTSA had to get a more powerful machine before they could successfully measure how much the Model S could take. Results like those were why the Model S got the highest safety scores of all time (a perfect score across the board).
The German news site has a slideshow showing the car from a variety of angles. We've likely all seen the woeful pictures of luxury cars after rolls. Quite often the roofs are buckled, the passenger compartment is barely visible, and while you can see how someone's body might contort in the space so they could survive, it looks like it would still have to be a miracle. In contrast, this car was so intact that they were able to just open the door. The roof looks like it only has a few scratches. Meanwhile, the entire front is just gone, and the back is smashed to bits.
Say what you will, but I have NEVER seen pictures after a rollover crash like this with the passenger compartment so remarkably intact.
No, only Tesla's come equipped with this life-saving technology. Everybody else installs a large spike in front of each seating position, covered by a faulty airbag.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
If you fuck off, it'll be marginally more worth reading.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
"The problem with internet quotes is that you cant always depend on their accuracy" -Abraham Lincoln, 1864
The Tesla has a much better crumple zone in front because it doesn't have a huge heavy engine block in there. Just look at the pictures, the front end is essentially gone yet the passenger compartment is intact. I would say that's a pretty important advantage, and it may have been just the difference required to save their lives. If it had been a Mercedes, where would the engine have gone? Even if it didn't go into the cabin, it sure would have left much less room for crumpling to absorb the impact.
The passenger compartment is also extremely strong, they actually broke the testing equipment when they tried to crush the roof, for example. They overengineered the hell out of that car. Tesla is pretty new in the car business: when they designed the Model S they hadn't figured out yet that you have to compromise on safety if you want to compete in the market. They just made it as strong as they could. Fortunately the car is compelling enough that rich people don't mind spending the extra money. The Model 3 will probably be pretty safe, but I doubt it's going to break any testing equipment. For $35000 something will have to give.
Also, the car didn't catch fire. I know real cars don't automatically burst into flames while airborne like they do in the movies, but in this kind of crash some kind of fire would have been pretty likely. Here's one from not long ago, a crash between a Tesla and an ICE vehicle, the ICE caught fire while the Tesla didn't. Yes, I know, some Teslas have caught fire as well in other accidents but it was always after at least 10 minutes or so, giving people plenty of time to get out first. With an ICE, as soon as a fuel like breaks, you have to run away fast.
Being that there are so few Tesla cars out there, and they are really expensive, I doubt you will see too many real world car wrecks of Teslas. People were always a bit curious about the safety of electric cars, electrical fires, getting electrocuted... Now granted many of these concerns are less of an issue compared to riding a car powered by explosions. However because it is new, people worry about the safeguards in place. And how would such a car fare in real world accidents. Especially lately companies have been cheating the system to change their results from the test to real world.
The point of the story actually was the tesla design allowed for much more crumple zone than standard cars to improve passenger safety.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The actual article is behind a pay wall, but the Daily Mail summary unambiguously says:
- That was finding of a study looking at particles from tyre and brake wear
- Made heavier by batteries and parts meaning tyres and brakes wear faster
The Daily Mail article itself continues with multiple references to brake wear. Not once does it mention regenerative braking.
Now I do admit that I should know better than to assume that a Daily Mail article about a paper would be in any way related to the actual contents of the paper, and it's entirely possible that the actual paper, behind the paywall, says exactly the opposite. Maybe it will even say that EVs are cleaner after all.