The rapid transition to electric-drive vehicles is taking place globally. Most automakers are adding electric models to their lineups to prepare for the new electric future. From the analysis of the automotive market, it is evident that there is a growing interest in such vehicles. They are expected to account for half the models released after 2030. Electric-drive vehicles include battery-electric vehicles. As indicated in the research literature and emphasized by experts, electric vehicles (EVs) are supposed to be an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional vehicles. The rising number and variety of EVs contribute to a better understanding of their performance. With more EVs on the market, there are problems to be solved and challenges to overcome. This article is the first part of a two-article series reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of EVs. The article analyzes the environmental effects of EVs at each stage of their life cycle, compares large- and small-scale recycling methods, and explores the potential applications of second-life batteries. This article is an attempt to find out how environmentally friendly EVs are.

The study is dedicated to the problem of uncertainty in the analysis of accident situations in road traffic. The term “uncertainty” is generally known when used with reference to measurement techniques, but its application to the analyses of accident situations in road traffic, including accident reconstruction, is a relatively new field of knowledge. The objectives of this work include the presentation and examination of selected aspects related to the taking of uncertainty into account when analysing the course of an accident and making the necessary calculations. Apart from the scientific objectives, an important utilitarian goal may also be pointed out. The data and methods presented may be used by automotive technology experts in their accident reconstruction work. The paper shows seven methods that enable the taking into account of the uncertainty of the data used for calculations, i.e. extreme values method, total differential method, higher-order total differential method, finite-difference method, Gauss method, method based on the description of stochastic processes, and Monte-Carlo method. Apart from formal (mathematical) descriptions of the methods, an example of their use for the estimation of uncertainty of selected quantities that describe an accident situation has been demonstrated. The bad and good points of individual methods have been shown in the context of the application considered.

The electrification of road transport is developing dynamically around the world. Many automotive companies are introducing electric vehicles to the market, and their popularity is constantly growing. The increasing popularity of electric vehicles is caused by individual countries’ governments encouraging people to switch to electric vehicles and their lower operating costs. In 2022, the number of electric vehicles in China will exceed 10 million. Europe and the USA rank second and third in global electric car stock, respectively. The number of available electric vehicle models is constantly growing, remaining approximately 2.5 times smaller than the case of vehicles with an internal combustion engine. Among others, a significant limitation to the popularity of electric cars is users’ fear of range and the density of the charging infrastructure network. This paper presents the objectives regarding public areas and charging stations around the European Union’s comprehensive and core transport network. It is worth noting that the vehicle and charging point’s charging connectors vary depending on the geographical region. Therefore, the currently used charging connectors for different regions are presented. Charging time depends significantly on the charging current, the power of the charging point, and the devices installed in the vehicle. The paper analyzes the limitations of charging power resulting from the onboard charger’s power and the charging point’s power. It presents the charging time of selected electric vehicles. The second aspect that is also the subject of user concerns and discussed in this article is issues related to the safety of electric vehicles. General safety indicators of such vehicles based on Euro-NCAP tests are characterized. Attention was also paid to more detailed problems related to active and passive safety and functional safety analyses. The issue of the fire hazard of electric vehicles was discussed together with modern experiences regarding post-accident procedures in the event of fires.

The aim of the study was to verify whether simultaneous responses from the muscular and circulatory system occur in the driver’s body under simulated conditions of a crash threat. The study was carried out in a passenger car driving simulator. The crash was included in the driving test scenario developed in an urban setting. In the group of 22 young male subjects, two physiological signals — ECG and EMG were continuously recorded. The length of the RR interval in the ECG signal was assessed. A HRV analysis was performed in the time and frequency domains for 1-minute record segments at rest (seated position), during undisturbed driving as well as during and several minutes after the crash. For the left and right side muscles: m. trapezius (TR) and m. flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), the EMG signal amplitude was determined. The percentage of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) was compared during driving and during the crash. As for the ECG signal, it was found that in most of the drivers changes occurred in the parameter values reflecting HRV in the time domain. Significant changes were noted in the mean length of RR intervals (mRR). As for the EMG signal, the changes in the amplitude concerned the signal recorded from the FDS muscle. The changes in ECG and EMG were simultaneous in half of the cases. Such parameters as mRR (ECG signal) and FDS-L amplitude (EMG signal) were the responses to accident risk. Under simulated conditions, responses from the circulatory and musculoskeletal systems are not always simultaneous. The results indicate that a more complete driver’s response to a crash in road traffic is obtained based on parallel recording of two physiological signals (ECG and EMG).

The article demonstrates selected issues related to assessment of computational accuracy in accident analysis. The hereto presented theoretical grounds of the methods make it possible to consider uncertainties in the assessment of input data values. The methods were compared on the basis of their exemplary application in the case of braking process study of a vehicle in rectilinear motion. Also for the aforementioned case, the results obtained by means of various computational methods of vehicle motion (analytical and simulation models) were compared with the outcome of the experimental study.

All over the world, the vehicles introduced now into the market are usually provided with EDRs (Event Data Recorders), intended to measure and record the parameters that characterise the vehicle motion in the pre-, during-, and post-accident phases. The EDRs are to facilitate the description and reconstruction of possible road accidents. They are patterned on aircraft “black boxes” (flight recorders). Many of them have simplified design, disregarding three (of six) vector components that describe the motion of the vehicle body solid. In the paper presented, the authors used simulation models built by themselves to represent motor vehicle dynamics and the reconstruction of vehicle trajectory and velocities based on records obtained from two EDR types: “aircraft” one (EDR1) and “simplified” one (EDR2). Using a simulation method, they examined the impact of the said simplifications mentioned above on the quality of reconstruction of vehicle motion for four typical manoeuvres in road traffic. The calculation results obtained for input data adopted to rep-resent a medium-class passenger car have shown that the simplifications may cause considerable reconstruction errors. This particularly applies to the manoeuvres where significant changes took place in the roll and pitch angles of the vehicle body solid (to which the EDR was fixed) or where the changes were characterised by absence of symmetry in the parameters that describe the manoeuvre and by the constant sign of the vehicle body roll angles.