Tesla’s Cybertrucks may be commonly seen in America, but in other countries, not so much.
In fact, the vehicle is banned from the road entirely in the UK due to it not meeting the country’s strict safety standards.
What’s happening?
A man in a Tesla Cybertruck in Manchester was pulled over this year and had his vehicle seized because the U.K. had banned this vehicle from its roadways.
Though the Cybertruck recently got a high safety standard rating in the United States, the U.K. has more stringent safety standards for cars, and the Cybertruck falls short on many of these.
The first area where it fails is its size. With a massive weight of 6,898 pounds (or nearly 3 tons) and a width of 7.2 feet, the vehicle is too heavy and wide to drive safely on British roadways. (Anyone who has driven in the U.K. will immediately recognize the concerns with taking a Cybertruck to those roads.)
The fact that Cybertrucks can go from 0 to 60 mph in only 2.6 seconds raises another issue with safety authorities in the U.K.
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Forbes reported that America’s National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy, as having previously told Slate, “The Cybertruck is an over-6,000-pound piece of steel that has no business going a quarter mile in under 11 seconds.”
The vehicle’s rigidity poses problems, too, because, in a wreck, cars should be designed to fold to minimize injuries, and rigidity could increase injuries. Meanwhile, the light bar across the front of the Cybertruck doesn’t meet at least 6 of the lighting regulations required in the U.K.
Finally, the U.K. has a provision requiring cars to have rounded edges instead of sharp ones like the Cybertruck has.
Why is the banning of the Cybertruck in the U.K. important?
While banning electric vehicles affects consumers in that fewer EVs are available to choose from, this is a bit of a special case given the unusual size and dimensions of the Cybertruck, so there should not be a major impact as long as other EVs remain available.
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Fewer options for EVs could mean less of them on roads, which would negatively affect the environment, as fewer electric vehicles on the road equals more air pollution and heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, along with more noise to boot.
While the Cybertruck’s banning is unlikely to have a major impact on the overall EV uptake in any of the U.K.’s countries, it could continue to hurt Tesla’s overall European sales, which have been declining at a sharp rate in recent months.
What’s being done about the banning of the Cybertruck in the U.K.?
Unless the vehicle’s design is changed to meet safety standards, it will continue to be banned in the U.K.
However, this situation raises the question of whether electric vehicle makers should prioritize safety standards over design. It also brings up the issue of how carmakers can ensure they meet different safety standards in various countries.
Overall, most EVs are quite safe (generally speaking, every bit as safe as gas-powered vehicles) and don’t have the design issues found here.
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