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Getty Images/Halfpoint Images Lola Baird has just asked her boyfriend to pull over. Forty minutes into a journey and she's feeling "overwhelmed" by nausea - and can't stop herself throwing up on the ground next to his car. Lola, 24, from north London, had never experienced motion sickness until her boyfriend bought an electric vehicle (EV) two years ago. Ever since, she's been feeling "very nauseous" when he takes her on long car journeys. It's become so severe she's even asked him to change his car. Lola isn't alone. Other people told BBC News that they or their children notice feeling more car sick when sitting as a passenger in an electric vehicle. But at the same time, many EV drivers say it's not been a concern. So what could explain these reports of motion sickness? Dr Irene Di Giulio, senior lecturer in anatomy and biomechanics at King's College London whose research includes motion sickness, says research so far suggests some people experience more severe motion sickness in electric vehicles than in non-electric vehicles. It's something Dr Nicholas Hac, a neurologist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago who specialises in dizziness and vertigo, has also heard from some of his patients. "They just notice that they're much more likely or prone to be motion sick" in electric vehicles, he says. "I've heard about it many, many, many times," he adds, saying about two patients a month specifically reference feeling motion sick in electric vehicles. Lola Baird / Lola Baird noticed that she felt sick in electric vehicle taxis as well as her boyfriend's car. "I started to put two and two together," she says But research into any possible link is still in its early stages, and some academics say there isn't sufficient evidence to say anything definitive. Dr Bill Yates, who has researched motion sickness at the University of Pittsburgh, says the body of research is "pretty sketchy at this point". "There's some anecdotal information, but not a lot of really serious, extensive studies done yet," he says. 'Wonderful to drive... but my daughter gets unwell' When Mark Quigg was looking at options for a new car last year, an electric vehicle seemed like the best choice because of the lower running costs. Mark, 45, from Lincolnshire, says his shiny new electric vehicle has been "wonderful" to drive - but he quickly noticed that his nine-year-old daughter's motion sickness got much worse in it. She used to get motion sick only on their 600-mile drives to France during the school holidays, but now he says even the 30-minute drive to the nearest city makes his daughter feel unwell. On one recent journey, he says his daughter even threw up, which had never happened before. Mark Quigg / Mark Quigg says electric cars are a "lovely driving experience for me, personally, because they are a lot quieter" Motion sickness doesn't affect all EV passengers - many owners got in touch with BBC News to say they and their relatives don't get sick in electric vehicles. Others said they felt less sick in EVs compared with traditional combustion engine cars. Vicky Edmonds, the CEO of EVA England, an association for electric vehicle drivers, says motion sickness isn't a concern among her members. "This has never come up as an issue," she says. But Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng, which has showrooms across the UK, has previously publicly addressed the issue, telling people who've noticed a link between electric vehicles and travel sickness that "it's a fair question, and it's not your imagination". It's caused by "side effects of how electric cars are engineered," it adds. What could cause it? Motion sickness is caused by "a mismatch in sensory cues," Hac says. Our bodies rely on three main sensory inputs to show that we're moving, which come from what we see, what our inner ear's balance system perceives, and what fibres in our body sense, he says. When one of these is in conflict with the others - like if you're looking at your phone so you don't see visual signs of movement out of the window - that can cause motion sickness. Research suggests several reasons why it may be more severe in electric vehicles. Humans have adapted to associate sound with movement in vehicles, experts explain. Because electric vehicles don't have the auditory cues and vibrations from the engine that we're used to, which indicate when the car is accelerating, this could trigger motion sickness, Di Giulio says. Another reason is regenerative braking, the process whereby when drivers release the accelerator, the electric car starts to slow down and uses the energy to feed the battery. However, it is a process that needs to be done smoothly with the accelerator being released gently, or it can lead to harsh deceleration. "It forces the person to perhaps feel like they're rocking back and forth for that brief moment when the speed of the car suddenly changes," says Hac. This is something Carolyn Le, 24, from California, has noticed. She gets "horrendous" motion sickness when her friend drives her in his electric vehicle in busy cities, she says. The regenerative braking means it "constantly feels like the car is stopping all the time". Carolyn Le / "It's actually horrendous," says Carolyn Le, who blames regenerative braking for her motion sickness Electric vehicles can also accelerate and decelerate much more quickly than conventional combustion cars, which Di Giulio says can cause motion sickness. Edmonds, of EVA England, says developments in electric vehicle design have made them better at moderating the acceleration so they don't gain speed as rapidly. She adds that the association thinks motion sickness in an electric vehicle is caused by "other factors" like the motorist's driving style rather than the vehicle itself. Some people are also just more prone to motion sickness, and genetics have the biggest influence on this, Hac says. Women and children are more susceptible, experts say. Motion sickness typically peaks between the ages of

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  • 发布时间：2026/10/3 10:36:19