Safety of Electric Vehicles in Crash Conditions: A Review of Hazards to Occupants, Regulatory Activities, and Technical Support

There is little review work concerning the safety of electric vehicles (EVs) in the crash conditions, leading to the fact that many people, even including those who have been studying EVs for many years, are not familiar with the relevant injury hazards and the corresponding prevention measures. To solve the problem, this article reviews several safety-related aspects of EVs in crash conditions. First, the injuries, including the reasons and forms behind them, that the occupants are going to suffer are introduced. Meanwhile, both the international and national regulations and their provisions concerning injury hazards prevention are discussed. Finally, the up-to-date technologies that are adopted to prevent the different injuries are illustrated. Through this article, the scholars in academia and researchers in the industry can gain a sufficient grasp of current/future development about the EV safety issues in the crash conditions, and meanwhile, the end-users or potential end-users (EUs/PEUs) can gain easy-to-understand knowledge in this area.