When EVs Become Vehicles for Terror

Law enforcement is still investigating whether any connection exists between the deadly New Year’s attacks in Las Vegas and New Orleans, but among the eerie similarities is one curious factor in common: electric vehicles.

In New Orleans, officials say a suspect now identified as 42-year-old veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street in a Ford F-150 Lightning, the electric version of the popular pickup truck, killing at least 14 and injuring many more. He had rented the truck in Houston using the peer-to-peer app Turo, which allows anyone to post their own vehicle for someone else to borrow.

In Las Vegas, the bed of a Tesla Cybertruck — also rented from Turo — exploded outside of the Trump Hotel, killing the driver and injuring seven. The EV truck, which was loaded down with fireworks, gasoline, and camping fuel, was reportedly driven by an active-duty member of U.S. Army Special Operations.

It could turn out to be a coincidence that both horrendous incidents were carried out with electric vehicles. For now, though, it’s easy to wonder whether this was a deliberate choice — if the perpetrators of what might turn out to be acts of terrorism chose EVs on purpose to cause maximum damage, especially knowing that both trucks were rented specifically for these insidious ends.

One undeniable fact is that EV pickups such as the F-150 Lightning and Cybertruck are big, heavy, and powerful. The Ford has a curb weight exceeding 6,000 pounds, with the enormous battery needed to power it making the EV heavier than the gas-powered version of the best-selling truck. The Tesla also tips the scale at more than 3 tons.

The ever-growing girth of the American car is already a known public safety hazard. The big trucks and SUVs that dominate our roads are increasingly dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, and other vehicles given their weight and a driver’s difficulty in monitoring their surroundings.

The electrification movement has complicated this issue even more, since putting a big battery in a big vehicle makes it even heavier. Plus, EVs are remarkably powerful. All of their torque is available from a standstill, as opposed to combustion vehicles, which need time to rev up. This is what allows EVs to accelerate so quickly from a stop.

To put it in stark terms, an electric pickup truck has exactly the attributes that would appeal to someone who wanted to launch a terrorist attack on a crowd of people.

The other much-discussed safety issue for EVs is whether their batteries are a hazard because of potential fire danger. As InsideEVs notes, EV blazes are statistically rarer than those involving ordinary gas vehicles — they just seem more common because they get more sensationalized news coverage — however they can also be more difficult to extinguish because of the energy released when a lithium-ion battery ignites.

This problem seems pertinent in light of the Cybertruck attack in Vegas, where the driver reportedly loaded down the truck with incendiary material in the apparent hope of creating an out-of-control blaze. For what it’s worth, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the blast was caused by the incendiary material loaded into the Cybertruck and not anything to do with the vehicle itself, and argued the EV’s stainless steel frame helped contain the explosion.

Then there are the increasingly weird politics of EVs. It’s impossible not to look at a Tesla detonating outside Donald Trump’s casino and see some kind of statement about Musk’s support for the president-elect (and growing influence over the American government). Where once EVs were the car of choice for the climate-aware, now we have a big metal electric truck that communicates a right-wing worldview as it barrels around town.

“It’s a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump Tower,” Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters. “So, there’s obviously things to be concerned about there, and that’s something we continue to look at.”

We’ve covered at length some of the things EVs can do that gas cars can’t. They can use the energy in their batteries to back up your home in case of power outage, or air-condition your dog while you run into the store. But as EVs become more prevalent around the country, it seems we now have to worry about whether their downsides will be used in the worst ways imaginable.