Electric trucks are heavy. Well, electric vehicles are heavy. Electric trucks are ridiculous. The Hummer EV, for instance, weighs 9640 lbs, enough to have a measurable gravitational effect. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety wasn't sure if its testing equipment could handle such an absurd amount of weight. So, being reasonable and scientific people, the folks at the IIHS threw a bunch of concrete and steel into an old F-150, ran it into a wall, and found out for themselves.
The concern is mostly based on the crash testing facility's propulsion system. The institute uses an under-floor tow system to accelerate vehicles up to 40 mph for crashes and, given the limited distance, the company wanted to make sure that it had enough room and power to accelerate a 9500-lb mass up to testing speeds. Until now, the heaviest vehicle tested on the system was the nearly 6000-lb Audi e-tron SUV.
"For years and years, this crash machine has had no issues conducting tests for over 20 years," IIHS Vice President of the Vehicle Research Center Raul Arbelaez said in the video. "With electric vehicles coming in and that battery weight pushing vehicle mass higher and higher, we wanted to make sure that—if and when those vehicles come to market, and some of them already are—we want to be able to know that we can conduct the test here."
The company used a non-running, old F-150 for the test. The steel plates and concrete blocks got the weight up to 9500 lbs, the target weight for the heaviest upcoming EV they plan to test. Arbelaez doesn't name it, but the only vehicle that hefty is the GMC Hummer. Hopefully it'll fare better than the F-150, which explodes in spectacular fashion. We highly recommend a watch.
