Human beings are incredibly adaptable. Absurdly, beautifully, and unbelievably adaptable. If you think about it, we’re built for a top speed of 30 mph. Moving at that speed requires a symphony that calls on our sense of balance—including the hardware in our inner ear and our eyes—the complex trigonometry our brain is constantly doing subconsciously, and our limbs moving out of sheer reflex. It wouldn’t be shocking if riding in a vehicle traveling 50 mph simply short-circuited us. Yet we can learn to operate vehicles traveling 100 mph! It’s a minor miracle. And recent studies on why EVs are making people carsick have revealed a lot more about just how adaptable we are.

EVs are making passengers carsick

Many first-time EV passengers have reported unexpected carsickness. The feeling may be unexpected because EVs accelerate and decelerate much smoother than the average internal-combustion vehicle, so you’d think they’d cause less carsickness.

I will add I’m not finding any comprehensive study on how common carsickness is in EVs versus internal-combustion vehicles. I’m a person who can experience carsickness in traditional cars if I’m reading or writing on a curvy road. At this point, I’ve logged well over 100 hours riding shotgun in various EVs, reviewing Teslas, Hyundais, and Rivians. This includes dozens of hours writing on my laptop. I have felt carsick while writing or reading in EVs on curvy roads—same as in internal-combustion vehicles. I have also spent many hours writing or reading on the highway while riding shotgun in an EV, with no signs of carsickness.

My personal anecdotal experience aside, enough EV passengers have reported carsickness that multiple studies have sought a cause. 2020’s Knowing What’s Coming: Anticipatory Audio Cues Can Mitigate Motion Sickness by Kuiper et al. linked EVs’ silence to increased carsickness. 2024’s Investigative Examination of Motion Sickness Indicators for Electric Vehicles by Zhaoxue et al. linked the comparative lack of seat vibration in EVs to increased carsickness.

Motion sickness in electric vehicles explained

A Ph.D. student named William Emond explained the phenomenon to The Guardian. “If we are accustomed to traveling in non-EVs, we are used to understanding the car’s motion based on signals such as engine revs, engine vibrations, torque, etc. Yet, traveling in an EV for the first time is a new motion environment for the brain, which needs adaptation.”

After years of riding in internal-combustion vehicles, we’ve developed a sort of sixth sense. We hone our “accuracy in estimating the motion forces.” Long story short, we subconsciously use the vehicle’s sounds and vibrations to predict what’s coming an instant before it happens. If our brain and body know what’s coming, the movement is less likely to make us sick—that’s why passengers get carsick more often than drivers. This adaptation may even be why children get motion sickness more often than adults.

Will EV carsickness go away?

So do silent and smooth EVs offer enough clues that we’ll be able to adapt and subconsciously predict their motion? I suspect so. This is a whole new set of clues, so adapting will take time. But if humans could adapt so well to internal-combustion vehicles, there’s no reason we can’t adapt to EVs too.

If it turns out that EVs are simply too smooth and cause carsickness in adults, engineers may even design acceleration, braking, and turning warning signals drivers can activate. As long as they’re consistent across makes and models, our bodies will learn them just like the sounds and vibrations of an older car.