Anyone else find EVs and hybrids make them car sick?
Discussion
I'm not great at being in the back of cars, but I can survive, my dad bought a VW Passatt which is uncomfortable (and all the internal LEDs strobe which is very unpleasant) but I can deal with a half hour drive stuck in the back of it.
I've been in the back of a few hybrid taxis and I now avoid them like the plague, I'd never felt so car sick before and continued to feel awful for half an hour after.
Recently my housemate dragged me along to test drive a Tesla which I felt horrific in the back of, but I felt sick whilst driving it as well, which isn't something I'd experienced before. I had to sit on the showroom floor for 10 minutes when we got back before the world stopped spinning and I felt safe to stand up again. I was still feeling uncomfortable an hour later.
No one else I know seems to have any of these issues, apart from my boyfriend who can't deal with anything built after the 1980s. Is it a known phenomenon? Or has anyone else experienced it? If you have are there any tips for dealing with it beyond the standard ones for travel sickness?
I've been in the back of a few hybrid taxis and I now avoid them like the plague, I'd never felt so car sick before and continued to feel awful for half an hour after.
Recently my housemate dragged me along to test drive a Tesla which I felt horrific in the back of, but I felt sick whilst driving it as well, which isn't something I'd experienced before. I had to sit on the showroom floor for 10 minutes when we got back before the world stopped spinning and I felt safe to stand up again. I was still feeling uncomfortable an hour later.
No one else I know seems to have any of these issues, apart from my boyfriend who can't deal with anything built after the 1980s. Is it a known phenomenon? Or has anyone else experienced it? If you have are there any tips for dealing with it beyond the standard ones for travel sickness?
I've noticed that some people don't make good use of regen braking, which causes an uncomfortable experience for passengers as they're thrown back and forth whilst the driver clumsily mashes at the pedal.
However, the fact it happens when you were driving as well is most odd as I would have thought it would sort of make you immune to the effect.
Hopefully you find an EV that doesn't do this or else you're going to have an uncomfortable time of it post-2030!
However, the fact it happens when you were driving as well is most odd as I would have thought it would sort of make you immune to the effect.
Hopefully you find an EV that doesn't do this or else you're going to have an uncomfortable time of it post-2030!
My girlfriend complained of feeling sick the first few time we went out in a model 3. I think it was probably down to the instant torque and accelerating much harder at low speeds than I typically would.
As a point of reference she's quite happy reading a book in an enthusiastically driven bouncy hilux all over the North of Scotland so she's usually got a fairly strong stomach.
As a point of reference she's quite happy reading a book in an enthusiastically driven bouncy hilux all over the North of Scotland so she's usually got a fairly strong stomach.
Blue Oval84 said:
I've noticed that some people don't make good use of regen braking, which causes an uncomfortable experience for passengers as they're thrown back and forth whilst the driver clumsily mashes at the pedal.
However, the fact it happens when you were driving as well is most odd as I would have thought it would sort of make you immune to the effect.
Hopefully you find an EV that doesn't do this or else you're going to have an uncomfortable time of it post-2030!
I think the regen is what causes it too, and people not driving smoothly because of it. Add in the extra torque from zero and linearity of how the power comes it, I think some people will find themselves car sick with people who are not very good at modulating their right foot.However, the fact it happens when you were driving as well is most odd as I would have thought it would sort of make you immune to the effect.
Hopefully you find an EV that doesn't do this or else you're going to have an uncomfortable time of it post-2030!
I will confess to not being very good at "modulating my right foot" which is a beautiful phrase that I'm stealing, I'm more of a slam it down a gear and skid around the corner on the limit of the suspension kind of driver. Which in my current car (VW Fox) is frankly terrifying as her centre of gravity is far higher than my old Fiesta.
It's kinda like seasickness in a lot of cars, so long as I watch the horizon I'm OK, but the Tesla was more like having a migraine without the headache - woozy and dizzy and disoriented to go with the nausea.
I'm unlikely to ever buy an EV for various reasons (I HATE having screens in cars with a passion), I guess I'll just keep buying old cars and avoid taxis like the plague, and take some headphones if I have to get in one. But I will mention it to the doctor next time I'm in, see if he wants another dive into the rare diseases database for me.
It's kinda like seasickness in a lot of cars, so long as I watch the horizon I'm OK, but the Tesla was more like having a migraine without the headache - woozy and dizzy and disoriented to go with the nausea.
I'm unlikely to ever buy an EV for various reasons (I HATE having screens in cars with a passion), I guess I'll just keep buying old cars and avoid taxis like the plague, and take some headphones if I have to get in one. But I will mention it to the doctor next time I'm in, see if he wants another dive into the rare diseases database for me.
Oh I seem, it's a classic case of neophobia. The solution is to sit next to idling car (non EV of course!) in your garage while you enjoy a nice book. 
My 4yo has a similar problem, he says he doesn't like any vegetable. But when we eventually get him to eat one, lo and behold, he finds they all taste terrible (as he already knew beforehand)!
In all honesty, the Model S was the first time I managed to get myself sick in a car pushing it for about 20km's in back roads.
But then again, it's the first car I've owned with 500+ bhp that does 0-60 in sub 4 seconds.
It's very hard to get someone sick in a VW Fox. Try someone who likes the loud pedal in a C63...
TL;DR : They are massively fast and performance is extremely accessible without all the drama.
My 4yo has a similar problem, he says he doesn't like any vegetable. But when we eventually get him to eat one, lo and behold, he finds they all taste terrible (as he already knew beforehand)!
In all honesty, the Model S was the first time I managed to get myself sick in a car pushing it for about 20km's in back roads.
But then again, it's the first car I've owned with 500+ bhp that does 0-60 in sub 4 seconds.
It's very hard to get someone sick in a VW Fox. Try someone who likes the loud pedal in a C63...
TL;DR : They are massively fast and performance is extremely accessible without all the drama.
Edited by ZesPak on Monday 8th March 23:33
I3 REX made me feel a bit queasy on occasion. Depended on what you were doing. But I found it kinda bobbed and pitched about like a cork on the ocean and after a while that kinda motion did get to me.
The sharp regen/accel would do it as well but you learn to use the pedal better and it goes.
In general if I have sit in the back of any car I need to keep looking forward out of the window or will feel a bit ill. I can't ride rollercoasters or even go on spinning rides. I remember in Epcot in Florida I went on Mission Space? Unfortunately it spins you in a centrifuge to simulate gravity. I came out the other side genuinely looking a bit green much to everyone else's amusement. Karting is another, 5 minutes of by best Lewis Hamilton impression and I need to slow down and eventually lie down. Preferably in a dark room.
Friend of mine gets the feeling in certain cars, particularly ones with vast expanses of dashboard. No idea why. We've a Renault scenic at work that he won't drive because it makes him feel ill. Something about the big dash and raked screen and reflections.
The sharp regen/accel would do it as well but you learn to use the pedal better and it goes.
In general if I have sit in the back of any car I need to keep looking forward out of the window or will feel a bit ill. I can't ride rollercoasters or even go on spinning rides. I remember in Epcot in Florida I went on Mission Space? Unfortunately it spins you in a centrifuge to simulate gravity. I came out the other side genuinely looking a bit green much to everyone else's amusement. Karting is another, 5 minutes of by best Lewis Hamilton impression and I need to slow down and eventually lie down. Preferably in a dark room.
Friend of mine gets the feeling in certain cars, particularly ones with vast expanses of dashboard. No idea why. We've a Renault scenic at work that he won't drive because it makes him feel ill. Something about the big dash and raked screen and reflections.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Friday 12th March 19:03
Possibly to do with the lack of engine noise?
Travel sickness, as I understand it is caused by a mismatch between what the inner ear balance is detecting, and what the other senses are sending to the brain.
We're conditioned to associate the motion of a vehicle with a rise and fall in the engine note as it accelerates and decelerates - through learned experience your brain is expecting the sensation of acceleration to be accompanied by a rise in the noise and note of the engine, and the converse for deceleration. The absence of that possibly throws a spanner in the sensory works, causing travel sickness?
Travel sickness, as I understand it is caused by a mismatch between what the inner ear balance is detecting, and what the other senses are sending to the brain.
We're conditioned to associate the motion of a vehicle with a rise and fall in the engine note as it accelerates and decelerates - through learned experience your brain is expecting the sensation of acceleration to be accompanied by a rise in the noise and note of the engine, and the converse for deceleration. The absence of that possibly throws a spanner in the sensory works, causing travel sickness?
I’ve heard this too, mate with one reckons it’s because it accelerates like a roller coaster with no engine noise, so some people are missing a sensory check like a rolling ship when you can’t see the horizon.
His is a Tesla with the top acceleration pack whatever that is, says he wouldn’t bother with that again as the novelty soon wears off.
His is a Tesla with the top acceleration pack whatever that is, says he wouldn’t bother with that again as the novelty soon wears off.
You’re not the only one. I noticed this some years ago. I avoid vehicles like Toyota Prius’s, I always feel car sick in these types of vehicles. I think it has something to do with EV’s and Hybrids but also the way it’s made. It’s the worst experience & I know it isn’t a one-off occasion because over the years I’ve used possibly about 50+ just through Uber alone. It’s the only type of vehicle that makes me car sick. I still don’t really know why though
The torque / regen braking is an issue re motion sickness unless the driver is good. Too much on / off unless modulating the throttle properly - which is easy to get right with practice. They are also much heavier than ICE cars (with the exception of the i3) so ride quality may be an issue in some cars for some people.
It's unlikely to be electromagnetic field related (as suggested widely on the internet). Electric cars do produce electromagnetic fields - along with lots of devices from mobile phones to hair dryers and washing machines - and these could, in theory, induce nausea and interfere with implanted devices like pacemakers. However electric cars are, like microwaves etc, are well shielded and the fields they generate are weak.
A recent study by a team from Munich and New Zealand tested 4 models - a BMWi3, Tesla S, Nissan Leaf and VW eUp- using over a 100 volunteers with pacemakers and similar devices and found no issues whatsoever. Indeed the strength of the fields inside the cars was, at 2-4 Microteslas, much less than that of a mobile phone held against your body (30 - 50 Microteslas depending on which research you believe). As a reference the background strength of the Earth’s magnetic field - that we are all exposed to - is around 50 Microteslas.
However the charging cables for the cars did generate much stronger fields when plugged into a fast charger (117 Microteslas), but still below the level thought likely to interfere with most devices but perhaps enough to induce nausea in susceptible people. So, if you have a pacemaker, don’t hold those against your chest when charging - not that anyone would. Or your head
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