Does riding electric cars cause motion sickness?
Author, Greath Dean
Role, BBC
Published 2 minutes ago
Reading time: 6 minutes
About forty minutes into the trip, Lola Bird asked her friend to stop the car on the side of the road, because she could no longer bear the strong feeling of nausea.
On the ground, next to the parked car, Lola began vomiting what was in her stomach.
Lola, who is 24 years old and lives in North London, confirms that she had never experienced “motion sickness” before her boyfriend bought an electric car two years ago.
Since then, whenever Lola accompanies her boyfriend on a long trip in this car, she becomes accustomed to feeling extremely nauseous, which prompts her to ask him to change this car.
Lola is not alone in experiencing this feeling; Others have spoken to BBC News, either for themselves or on behalf of their children, saying they feel motion sickness when riding in an electric car.
But, at the same time, many electric car drivers believe that there is nothing to worry about.
So, how do we explain these reports about some people feeling dizzy when riding an electric car?
Irene Di Giulio, a researcher at King's College London, says studies so far indicate that some people feel more dizzy in electric cars than in non-electric cars.
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Also from Chicago, Nicholas Haack, who specializes in vertigo research, has observed many patients complaining that they are “more likely to feel motion sickness” while riding electric cars.
“I've heard about it many times,” Haack says, with an average of two patients a month reporting feeling motion sickness while riding electric cars.
But research in this regard is still in its early stages, and there is not enough evidence to conclude anything, according to researchers.
Among them is Bill Yates, a researcher specializing in motion sickness at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, who confirms that research on this point is still in its early beginnings, noting that “there are many people’s accounts of their experiences, but so far there has not been sufficient and serious research” in this regard.
“Great to drive but...”
When Mark Quigg was thinking about buying a new car last year, an electric car seemed to him an ideal choice, given its low running costs.
Quigg, 45, who lives in Lincolnshire, England, says his shiny new electric car felt “fantastic” to drive, but he soon noticed that his nine-year-old daughter felt more dizzy when riding in this car than she did in others.
Mark pointed out that this girl had previously felt dizzy after traveling at least 600 miles in a non-electric car, but now, she does not need more than 30 minutes in an electric car to feel dizzy.
Mark mentions that his daughter vomited during a recent trip in an electric car, as she had never done before.
Motion sickness does not affect everyone who rides electric cars; BBC News contacted many owners of these cars, who confirmed that they and their relatives did not feel dizzy while riding them.
While some said that they felt less dizzy in electric cars than they felt in traditional gas-powered cars.
Vicky Edmunds, chief executive of the Electric Vehicle Drivers Association of England (EVA), says that feeling motion sickness is not a concern for its members, stressing that this issue “was not worth discussing.”
But Chinese electric car manufacturer Shipeng, which has several showrooms across the UK, has previously discussed the issue publicly, assuring people who have noticed a link between riding electric cars and feeling dizzy that their feeling was neither a mistake nor a fantasy, but rather caused by “side effects of the way electric cars are designed.”
What causes dizziness?
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Researcher Nicholas Haack believes that the feeling of motion sickness comes as a result of a “mismatch in sensory signals,” explaining that our bodies depend on three main sensory inputs to realize that we are moving - these inputs are represented by what we see with our eyes; What we hear through a device in the inner ear; What is felt by fibers found in our bodies.
“When one of these three inputs is not compatible with the other two - such as when the sense of vision is occupied with a mobile phone and is not aware of visual signals indicating movement - the person can suffer from motion sickness,” according to the researcher.
Research explains the intensity of motion sickness when riding electric cars compared to traditional gas-powered cars.
She attributes this to the fact that when riding traditional cars, we are accustomed to associating the movement of the car with the sound of the engine inside it. The sound of the internal engine in electric cars - in terms of auditory signals and vibrations - differs from what we are accustomed to in conventional cars, which makes us dizzy, especially when accelerating, according to Irene Di Giulio, a researcher at King's College London.
Another reason is the “regenerative braking” process in electric cars, when the car driver lifts his foot off the gas pedal, and the car begins to slow down, directing the energy to feed the battery.
Experts say that this process should be carried out smoothly and gently, to avoid a sharp reduction in speed, “in a way that could leave the passenger in the car swaying violently backwards and then forwards within a moment,” according to researcher Nicholas Haack.
This particular feeling was observed by Caroline Lee, 24 years old, who lives in California, confirming that she feels extremely dizzy when she accompanies her friend in his electric car on trips within crowded cities.
The process of "regenerative braking" creates a feeling in the passenger's mind that the car is stationary at all times when in fact it is moving - making the person dizzy.
Also, the electric car driver can increase and decrease speed at faster rates than is possible with traditional cars, in another reason to which researcher Di Giulio attributes the possibility of the electric car passenger feeling motion sickness.
But Vicky Edmonds, chief executive of the England Electric Vehicle Drivers Association, says this feeling of dizziness is caused by “other factors” that are less related to the car itself than to the way the driver drives the car, especially since electric cars have new capabilities that take some time for drivers to get used to.
Researcher Nicholas Hack says that some people's feeling of motion sickness may be the result of genetic genes that have nothing to do with the type of vehicles. Experts also say that women and children are more susceptible to feeling dizzy than other groups in society.
Statistics indicate that dizziness peaks among the age group between eight and ten years.
Keep your head steady and open the window
With their growing popularity, avoiding electric cars becomes a challenge for many.
The number of electric cars registered in the United Kingdom increased by about 40.5 percent during the period between April and June 2026 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the latest statistics from the British Department of Transport.
At the end of June 2026, the percentage of electric cars reached about 5.8 percent of the total licensed cars on British roads, according to statistics.
Note that starting in 2030, the sale of new cars running on gasoline or diesel will be completely prohibited in the United Kingdom.
Lucinda Harrison, 24, who lives in London, says that the taxis she books usually happen to be “electric cars”, which terrifies her because of the nausea, sweat and humidity she feels during the trip.
Look out the windshield of the car and do not look at your mobile phone or read a book
Make sure to secure a seat in the front of the car, as far away from the back seats as possible, and if you have to, make sure to sit in the middle so that you can see through the windshield of the car.
Keep your head steady by leaning against the back headrest
Sit comfortably by leaning back on the seat
Breathe regularly
Open the window to freshen the air
Take anti-vertigo tablets when needed, as they may cause drowsiness
Before long trips, make sure to stay hydrated, sleep well, and do not eat foods rich in fats and oils
There are also steps that electric car manufacturers can take to reduce passengers' feelings of motion sickness, according to researcher Cyril Dales, professor of motion design at the Royal College of Art in London.
Among these steps, according to Dales, is the use of software that reduces the feeling of increasing speed. The use of sound and vibration systems that draw passengers' attention to the vehicle's movement; In addition to developing regenerative braking devices that reduce the feeling of sudden acceleration while driving.
Matthew Adams, head of electric mobility systems at BIMA, the association that represents electric car manufacturers in the UK, says he is confident these companies will respond and develop cars based on researchers identifying the reasons for some passengers feeling dizzy.
But there are those who see that day far away, including Lola Bird, who wants her boyfriend to change his electric car as soon as possible.
