Electric vehicles (EVs) may be transforming transport, but an increasing number of passengers say they are also changing their stomachs.
 
Reports of severe travel sickness in EVs are rising sharply, and experts now believe the transition to electric mobility is unintentionally creating a new public health and automotive design challenge.

Stomach it

Car sickness, or more accurately, motion sickness, has always affected a tiny minority of motorists.

However, the problem seems to be on the rise, and for some, the effects are dramatic.

Writing in the iPaper, Sadhbh O’Sullivan described a recent 45-minute taxi ride, in what she later realised was an electric car, that left her physically shaking and overwhelmed by nausea.

“I collapsed on my bed when I got home. My legs were trembling, and my whole body felt lit up with sickness,” she said.

Car sickness had never been a significant issue for her before.

Still, in the last few years, it had become increasingly common, despite following all the usual rules: no reading, windows open, eyes on the horizon.

The taxi journey and her subsequent online searches revealed a pattern now widely echoed by drivers, passengers and academics.

Social media is awash with passengers filming themselves attempting not to vomit in the back of Teslas.

Friends report never having suffered car sickness until recently.

Some have had to ask drivers to pull over so they could retch on the roadside; others say they now instinctively hang their heads out of the window “like a puppy” to survive rideshares.

And the experiences are no longer just anecdotal.

The science

Researchers have been anticipating this for years.

William Emond, who has just completed a PhD on car sickness at the Université de technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard in France, says specialists predicted that the rise of EVs, and later autonomous cars, would increase both the occurrence and the severity of motion sickness.

New data is emerging to support this: a Chinese study submitted earlier this year found that while petrol cars triggered motion sickness more often, the symptoms were significantly more intense in electric vehicles.

Manufacturers are aware of the problem, and Emond’s own research was conducted in collaboration with a German carmaker exploring new solutions.

Unique trigger 

According to medical experts, motion sickness occurs when there is a mismatch between what your eyes see, what your inner ear senses, and what your body feels.

When the information doesn’t line up, nausea strikes.

EVs intensify this mismatch in several ways:

Intense, smooth acceleration
EV motors produce instant torque. Mika Takahashi of IDTechEx explains: “The acceleration felt by passengers can be much greater than in an ICE car.” Without engine vibrations to warn the body of an impending surge, the inner ear is caught off guard.

Strong regenerative braking
As car writer Richard Lane notes, lifting off the accelerator in an EV immediately slows the car. This automatic energy-harvesting deceleration can feel jerky and unpredictable — a significant trigger for sickness.

Silence and lack of vibration
EVs create a “sensory vacuum”. Lane says: “There’s no context to road speed.” Passengers receive fewer cues that would typically help reconcile motion signals and prevent nausea.

Tinted windows and isolation from the road
ENT surgeon Michael Wareing explains that anything that obscures a passenger’s view of the road — including window tinting, seat position, or head-down posture — further disrupts the sensory system.

Affected?

Studies suggest women may be disproportionately affected, possibly due to hormonal factors.

Younger people, whose inner ears are still developing, and older adults, whose balance systems decline with age, also have a higher susceptibility.

Some research indicates higher sensitivity among Asian populations, making this a priority issue for carmakers targeting major EV markets such as China.

Many people only ride in EVs while using taxi apps — often at night, after drinking alcohol, in stop-start city traffic, or while scrolling on their phones.

All are proven to amplify motion sickness.

Stress and anxiety, including running late for appointments, also heighten symptoms.

Mitigating the road ahead

Experts recommend sitting in the front seat, keeping eyes on the road, opening windows, minimising screen use, and choosing gentler acceleration and braking modes when possible.

Emond stresses this is a transitional problem: “We are adapting to new technology and ironing out the kinks.”

Manufacturers are experimenting with vibration feedback, predictive braking algorithms and even artificial engine sounds to restore lost sensory cues.

For now, the rise of “EV motion sickness” is a reminder that the clean-energy revolution may require not only better batteries, but better biology-informed design.