The downside of electromobility: accident statistics raise questions

If you want to compile statistics on electromobility and accidents, one thing is immediately apparent: Wherever a negative aspect of electromobility is mentioned, positive aspects are also emphasized or cars with conventional combustion engines are denigrated, or individual negative aspects are only mentioned in passing but not elaborated on. 

As early as 2013, the Taz newspaper reported that electric cars are too quiet and therefore endanger the elderly and visually impaired, but the noise of combustion engines makes people ill [1].

Although the Autozeitung mentions an increase in accidents involving pedelecs in 2022, this could also be due to more electric bikes being purchased; otherwise the topic of electromobility and accident statistics is not addressed at all [2].

An article in the Süddeutsche newspaper also first discusses the traffic noise of combustion engines before going on to talk about quiet and therefore dangerous e-cars, although these are actually two independent problems that should be considered and solved independently of each other. In the same article, Süddeutsche (inadvertently?) relativizes the advantages of the supposedly quiet e-cars: the tire noise of an e-car is already louder at 20 km/h than the engine noise of a conventional combustion engine. According to the Süddeutsche newspaper, there were allegedly no accident statistics on e-cars in Germany in 2018 [3]; one could have looked to neighboring countries (see Fig. 1, data from the Swiss AXA insurance company). Incidentally, the federal printed paper on traffic accidents from 2021 still does not contain the data, nor does it distinguish between electric and combustion vehicles [4], and the ADAC accident statistics in 2024 only contain information on rescue times from electric vehicles, but no information on accidents involving pedestrians. It is therefore not possible to find out from the ADAC whether the noise systems that are now mandatory have had any effect [5]. The research and funding of these in the area of pedestrian accidents is therefore inadequate [6].

Fig. 1: Accidents involving e-cars according to AXA (source: https://www.focus.de/auto/elektroauto/versicherungsdaten-aus-der-schweiz-ps-starke-elektroautos-haben-40-prozent-mehr-unfaelle-als-benziner_id_11082311.html)

The Swiss are one step ahead, as reported by Focus in 2019 with data from Axa from 2018: large e-SUVs have 40 % more accidents, but small e-cars have 10 % fewer than combustion engines in the same vehicle class; higher acceleration, quieter driving noise, no retrofitting requirement with warning tone for older vehicles.

In addition, there were "only" as many vehicle fires as with combustion engines, but these were extinguishable [7].

Die Zahl der verstorbenen E-Scooter Fahrer aus 2020 ist bei Statista entweder unbekannt oder „Geheimsache“ [8]; erst die Bundesdrucksache offenbart, dass es in 2020 trotz verspäteter Erfassung in einigen Bundesländern genau so viele Tote gab wie in 2021, nämlich 5. Die Zahl der Verletzten stieg drastisch an (s. Abb 2) [4], und die Zahl der verstorbenen Pedelec-Fahrer ist trotz der mit Fahrrändern verglichen vermutlich geringeren Anzahl an Pedelecs bundesweit kaum niedriger als die der verstorbenen Fahrradfahrer, die ausschließlich selbst strampeln (s. Abb. 3) [4, 8]. Daten zu Zulassungszahlen von E-Autos sowie der Anzahl von Pedelecs in Deutschland sind nicht leicht zu finden, es gibt sie nur bei Statista gegen Bezahlung [9, 10].

Fig. 2: Federal accident statistics for Germany from 2021 (source: https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/20/045/2004580.pdf)

Fig. 3: Accidents involving pedelecs and bicycles in 2021 (source: https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/20/045/2004580.pdf)

The increase in pedestrian fatalities roughly coincides with the boom in electromobility and, according to the latest statistics, has only decreased since then during the coronavirus pandemic (see Fig. 4) [11].

According to an article in the journal Nature from 2021, electric cars are heavier than combustion engines, which leads to different braking behavior and increased lethality for pedestrians, but also to higher environmentally harmful tire abrasion. Not only the e-cars themselves, but also the traffic fatalities are bad for the environment and the climate, according to the Nature article [12]... However, a Spiegel article from 2023, which quotes the Nature article in the form of a summary, does not begin with the increase in traffic fatalities, but with a record announcement of the sales figures for e-cars in Germany [13]. It's not just the mortician industry that is pleased.