Tesla’s Cybertruck is too big and sleek for European roads, transport campaigners have warned, as questions arise over the registration of one of the first electric vans to hit the continent.
There had been confusion over whether the Cybertruck could be driven in Europe, due to strict road safety rules that prohibit sharp edges and require speed limiters on vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes when full. The Tesla manual lists the angular steel vehicle as having a gross vehicle weight of 4 tons. (The equivalent of a standard family car, such as a Ford Focus, is 1.9 tons.)
A handful of Cybertrucks have already been spotted on European streets this year, sparking safety fears among activists. In a letter to the European Commission and authorities in the Czech Republic, where the registration of a Cybertruck has raised questions about the rules, the campaign groups called for EU-registered Cybertrucks to be removed from public roads.
“Oversized pickup trucks are increasingly being imported and bringing danger to our streets,” said James Nix of the nonprofit Transport & Environment, which signed the letter.
The European car market has followed the North American shift toward large, heavy sport utility vehicles, but safety and pollution regulations have prevented the growth of more dangerous pickup trucks.
Despite this, tens of thousands of the largest vehicles have flooded the continent through a back channel. Imported cars can be registered through an “individual vehicle approval” which subjects them to less scrutiny than the “type approvals” that most cars undergo. Member state approval authorities, which are responsible for checking vehicles before they reach the market, have some scope to deviate from EU rules in individual cases if they impose alternative requirements.
The different approval routes have raised questions about whether Cybertrucks in Europe have been registered properly or through a loophole.
In July, a Cybertruck with an empty weight of 3,025 tons was registered in the Czech Republic. It had been modified to comply with lighting regulations and protect road users from its sharp edges, but the vehicle appears to still violate weight restrictions. If it carried four passengers who were slightly heavier than the average European man, or carried cargo such as furniture or other heavy goods, it would weigh more than 3.5 tonnes, the threshold for vehicles requiring a speed limiter.
The Czech Transport Ministry said that all vehicles in category N1, in which the truck was registered, have weight ratios calculated from formulas in the 2018 EU regulations. But the vehicle data it provided show that The Cybertruck does not comply with the formulas when it carries four passengers.
TÜV Nord, the company that provided the technical data for the truck’s approval, did not respond to a request for comment.
Norton Slovak, co-founder of Cybertruck.cz, the company that owns the vehicle, said he was aware of the discrepancy between the vehicle’s weight and regulations, but that “the calculations may not fully reflect how these regulations are applied or interpreted by users”. Czech authorities.
The Czech Transport Ministry said it did not see the discrepancy as a problem because the registration was an “individual approval of a vehicle at the national level only in the territory of the Czech Republic” and not a “type approval” for the free vehicle market. the EU.
However, the truck, which its owners rent for advertising campaigns, has already been driven to other EU member states, such as Slovakia. It is unclear whether vehicles registered in this way in one nation-state can be driven to other states.
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“Cyber trucks present serious dangers and do not comply with European standards,” said Nix. “To protect other road users, we have asked the minister to suspend the Cybertruck from public roads” until it has been checked.
Large, heavy cars are more likely than small ones to kill people in a collision. A study published in March found that a 10 cm increase in the front height of a vehicle caused a 22% increase in risk of pedestrian deathsmost strongly affecting the survival chances of women, children and the elderly.
Slovak said the Cybertruck was less dangerous in this metric than many other SUVs on European roads, which may be lighter but have higher front ends. He suggested the EU could review its weight rules for electric vehicles, which are less polluting than combustion engine cars but have heavy batteries that increase their bulk.
He said: “Given the growing need to adapt to modern, sustainable vehicle designs, this review could ensure that vehicles like the Cybertruck meet environmental and safety standards while also fitting into the appropriate classifications.”
In the US, the Cybertruck has been plagued by safety issues that led Tesla to recall all vehicles in April. Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
In the letter, transport campaigners said there was no legal way to register a Cybertruck in the EU because it “seriously conflicts” with basic European road safety standards. They questioned the adequacy of the Cybertruck’s crumple zones, the vehicle’s ability to accelerate extremely quickly, and the risks to children due to poor direct vision.
The European Commission said it would need more information on national requirements and security measures to evaluate the registration. It plans to discuss the issue with member states’ approval authorities at an upcoming law enforcement meeting.