Electric cars are becoming a common sight on roads everywhere. They promise a cleaner, quieter ride. Yet, a strange side effect has popped up. Many passengers in these battery-powered vehicles report feeling more motion sickness. It’s a curious problem, especially since you don’t even need a winding road to feel woozy.
What’s the deal? Why do these smooth, silent rides make some people feel queasy? It seems our brains are still catching up to this new way of moving.
Scientists are already digging into this issue. William Emond, a PhD student at Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard in France, studies motion sickness in cars. He points to a lack of past experience. Our brains rely on what they know. With gas cars, we’ve had years to learn their quirks.
Think about it: When a gas car speeds up, you hear the engine roar. You feel vibrations. These are like little warnings for your brain. They tell you, “Hey, we’re about to move faster!” Your brain then prepares for the change in speed. But in an electric car, the motor is silent. There’s no growl, no rumble. The car just goes.
Studies back this up. A 2020 study found that the quietness of electric vehicles might be a big reason for increased motion sickness. Another study from 2024 looked at seat vibrations. It found strong links between how bad motion sickness was and how much the seats vibrated in electric cars.
Emond explains that our brains are used to understanding car movement through sounds and vibrations. When we get into an electric vehicle for the first time, it’s a completely new experience. Our brains need time to adapt to this quiet, different kind of motion.
There’s another culprit: regenerative braking. This tech in EVs slows the car down by turning motion into electricity. It often means a slow, steady deceleration, not a quick, sudden stop. This drawn-out slowdown can also trigger motion sickness. A third 2024 study even suggested this feature is a main reason for car sickness in EVs.
The core problem, Emond clarifies, is a “neural mismatch.” Our brain expects certain signals about movement. It uses these signals to guess what will happen next. But if what the brain expects doesn’t match what the body actually feels, it creates a conflict. If this conflict keeps going, your body might react. That’s when those familiar queasy feelings start.
Motion sickness happens when your inner ear, eyes, and body send mixed messages to your brain about movement. For example, your eyes might see a static car interior, but your inner ear feels the movement. This confusion makes you sick. Drivers, on the other hand, tend to feel less sick. They’re in control and can anticipate every turn and stop. Their brains are prepared.
As more electric vehicles hit the road, researchers are looking for ways to ease this new kind of car sickness. Some ideas include using visual signals. Imagine interactive screens or special ambient lighting inside the car. Even subtle vibrations could help. The goal is to give the passenger’s brain a “heads up” about the car’s movements. This way, the brain can anticipate the motion, which should reduce that rocking feeling.
Tech companies are already on it. Apple, for example, rolled out a new accessibility feature in May 2024. It’s called Vehicle Motion Cues. If you’re using your iPhone in a moving car, this feature displays animated dots on the screen. These dots move to match the car’s motion, helping to reduce motion sickness while you’re looking at your phone. It’s a clever way to help your brain connect what it sees with what it feels.