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Two 49-kilogram feminine dummies, round 1.5-meters tall, sporting purple t-shirts and white sneakers escaped comparatively unscathed after the electrical automobiles they had been driving collided head-on. Mercedes-Benz claims it was the world’s first crash take a look at involving two pure EVs.
The automaker needed to go “above and past” the authorized necessities to find what occurs when two EVs collide head-on, which is why it crash-tested an EQS 450 SUV and an EQA 300 head-on on the Group Expertise Centre for Automobile Security in Sindelfingen, Germany.
The electrical SUV, weighing 3.0 tonnes, and its smaller sibling, weighing 2.2 tonnes, hurled in direction of one another at 35 miles per hour with a 50 p.c frontal overlap – an offset as an alternative of a wonderfully aligned collision – to copy widespread accidents on rural roads like mishaps whereas overtaking, the automaker mentioned.
There have been 4 dummies in complete, all outfitted with as much as 150 sensors every. After the crash, Mercedes-Benz engineers found a low danger of significant to deadly harm. The true-life take a look at corroborated what engineers present in quite a few laptop simulations forward of the take a look at. Most significantly, the high-voltage system reduce off robotically, and the batteries in each EVs remained intact.
11 Photographs
Within the cinematic slow-motion footage above, you may see how the EQA rebounds extra aggressively after colliding with the larger and heavier EQS SUV. As they crash, particles from the bumpers, hoods, and frontal crash constructions will get spewed violently onto the scene because the airbags deploy virtually immediately. Crucially, the passenger compartment stays intact as nicely.
Automobile crumple zones up entrance are designed to soak up affect power, which is why they seem destroyed upon collision. When nearly all of the kinetic power will get dissipated inside the crumple zones, the chance of power bleeding into the passenger compartment is lowered. This after all would fluctuate upon the character and the circumstances of a crash.
As a reminder, each EVs have a five-star Euro NCAP security ranking however haven’t been examined by the Nationwide Freeway Security Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security (IIHS) but.
Nonetheless, low danger doesn’t imply no danger, and the outcomes of 1 managed crash aren’t indicative of numerous different real-world eventualities. However to Mercedes-Benz’s credit score, the latest endeavor is a constructive step in taking EV security extra severely as an rising variety of vehicles with heavy batteries and excessive voltage techniques pour onto roads worldwide.
Crash checks of this nature might assist automakers assess the security of high-voltage elements and energy-dense batteries, perceive how these elements behave beneath excessive circumstances and could be essential for making certain the security of occupants and first responders. We’ve already seen on a number of events how EV fires are arduous to extinguish on account of thermal runaways.
“We don’t simply need zero visitors fatalities by 2050 and half the variety of visitors fatalities and critical accidents by 2030 in comparison with 2020. Our objective by 2050 is zero accidents involving a Mercedes-Benz car,” mentioned Markus Schäfer, the chief know-how officer and member of the board of administration of Mercedes-Benz Group AG.
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