ARE YOU SICK OF YOUR TESLA? No, not just because of that chainsaw-wielding DOGE guy. I’m talking about EVs in general making people increasingly carsick. Here are tidbits on this phenomenon gleaned from a variety of sources.
Jess Thomson writes in The Guardian, June 21, 2025: “An increasing number of people are experiencing motion sickness in EVs, and there is a scientific explanation as to why.”
New Experiences, New Reactions. Thompson cites an academic researcher, William Emond, at the Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard in France: “Greater sickness in EVs can be attributed to a lack of previous experience, as both a driver and as a passenger, where the brain lacks accuracy in estimating the motion forces because it relies on previous experience in other types of cars.”
Thompson recounts, “Though EVs are becoming more popular, combustion cars still dominate. Riders have a longer history with gas cars and so have had more time to adapt to their specific cues. If a person has spent most of their life driving a combustion engine car, their brain anticipates acceleration after the rev of the engine, a warning that they are about to experience a change in speed. In a battery-powered car, the electric motor makes no such noises.”
Seats Vibrate, But “Engine” Sounds Are Lacking. What’s more, Thompson observes, “In addition to general unfamiliarity, research has found links between specific features common to electric vehicles and motion sickness. One 2024 study concluded that there were strong correlations between motion sickness severity and the seat vibrations of electric vehicles, while a 2020 study found that the lack of engine sound in an EV might be a major contributing factor to increased feelings of carsickness.”
Unexpected Audio Cues. The 2020 study, “Knowing What’s Coming: Anticipatory Audio Cues Can Mitigate Motion Sickness,” by Ouren X. Kuiper et al. focuses on automotive sounds, some common to all cars, others unique to EVs or autonomous vehicles.
I’m reminded of early driving simulators causing uneasiness when their sound tracks didn’t precisely match the simulator’s rendering of motion. (A suspension action would have a disconcertingly early or late thump sound.) In this paper, researchers found that accurate and timely anticipatory cues resulted in the least carsickness.
Scared Outta One’s Skin. The 2024 study, “Investigative Examination of Motion Sickness Indicators For Electric Vehicles,” by Zhaoxue Deng et al. focuses on EV effects on electrodermal activity. EDA, Wikipedia describes, “is the property of the human body that causes continuous variation in the electrical characteristics of the skin.”
“Skin conductance,” Wikipedia notes, “is not under conscious control. Instead, it is modulated autonomously by sympathetic activity which drives human behavior, cognitive and emotional states on a subconscious level. Skin conductance, therefore, offers direct insights into autonomous emotional regulation.”
And carsickness, of course, is an undesirable autonomous emotional response.
Regen—Another New Feeling. “Additionally,” Thompson observes, “the regenerative braking technology used in EVs—where the motor converts the slowing car’s kinetic energy into electricity that then is stored in the battery—results in low-frequency deceleration, meaning that the vehicle slows down gradually and steadily, over a relatively longer period, rather than rapidly or in quick pulses. Such low-frequency deceleration tends to be associated with higher levels of motion sickness.“
And, note as well, regen is independent of a driver’s pedal force—and yet another input sans precise anticipatory cue.
A One-Minute 100-Hertz Cure. Kaif Shaikh addresses EV motion sickness in Interesting Engineering, June 30, 2025: He cites, “Researchers at Japan’s Nagoya University report that listening to a steady 100-hertz tone for just one minute before a journey can significantly ease the dizziness and nausea that plague many riders in battery-powered cars.”
Shaikh recounts, “The team says that the low-tech audio clip, which can be downloaded to any phone, worked across a driving simulator, an actual vehicle, and even a playground swing.”
A 100-hertz tone. Sorta a low hum.
Other Aspects Confirmed. Shaikh also cites, “According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), a team at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) showed last month that the braking system alone can provoke motion-sickness symptoms.
Separate work from Chongqing University and the China Automotive Engineering Research Institute linked EV rides to heightened fidgeting and muscular tension, warning that discomfort can erode health and travel satisfaction.”
“Neuroscientists also see changes inside the brain,” writes Shaikh. “A study led by Shanghai University and carmaker SAIC Motor found that ‘the brain’s functional connectivity undergoes reorganisation to cope with the physiological and psychological stress induced by motion sickness,’ as SCMP reported.”
Geez. These in addition to a chainsaw-wielding jackass. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025