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NE Safety Tests Prove Existing Guardrails Are No Match For Heavy EVs

Automakers are racing to be the first to bring an electric pickup to market — including, clockwise from top left, Rivian's sporty offering, Tesla's futuristic Cybertruck, General Motors' Hummer EV and Lordstown's work-focused Endurance.
Courtesy of Rivian, Tesla, Lordstown Motors and General Motors
Automakers are racing to be the first to bring an electric pickup to market — including, clockwise from top left, Rivian's sporty offering, Tesla's futuristic Cybertruck, General Motors' Hummer EV and Lordstown's work-focused Endurance.

Preliminary tests by a University of Nebraska road safety research facility and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers point to concerns that the nation’s roadside guardrails are no match for new heavy electric vehicles. At a news conference Wednesday, a university official said a first-of-its-kind test crash of a nearly 4-ton EV pickup truck last fall showed the guardrail did almost nothing to slow the truck. Cody Stolle with the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility says more extensive testing is planned. But he says tens of thousands of miles of guardrails along roads in the nation will likely need to be adapted as more electric vehicles populate the roads.