🏎️ Physics of motion

Aerodynamic drag is the resistance a vehicle feels from pushing through air as it moves, similar to how it feels harder to run through water than through open air. At higher speeds, drag increases dramatically, since a vehicle moving twice as fast has to push through air with roughly four times the resisting force, which is why drag matters so much more on highways than in slow city driving. Engineers shape cars, trains, and planes to be smooth and streamlined specifically to reduce drag, since less resistance means a vehicle needs less energy, and therefore less fuel or battery power, to maintain its speed.

Tyres grip the road through friction between the rubber and the road surface, and that friction has to fight against the car's natural tendency to keep travelling in a straight line, a tendency called inertia. As a car turns, the tyres push sideways against the road, and the road pushes back with an equal force, and this sideways grip is exactly what redirects the car's path around the curve instead of letting it slide straight ahead. If a car goes around a curve too fast for its tyres' grip to handle, that sideways friction is not strong enough anymore, and the car begins to slide, which is why speed limits on curves matter so much for safety.

An electric motor can deliver its maximum turning force, called torque, almost instantly from a complete stop, unlike a petrol engine which needs to build up speed before reaching its strongest pulling power. This means an electric car does not need to wait for its engine to "rev up" the way a petrol car does, so it can send full power to the wheels the very moment the accelerator is pressed. Because electric motors also do not need a complicated multi-speed gearbox the way most petrol engines do, power transfers to the wheels more directly and efficiently, which further boosts how quickly the car can speed up.

A crumple zone is a section at the front and back of a car specifically designed to bend, fold, and crush during a crash, rather than staying rigid and solid. By crumpling gradually instead of stopping instantly, these zones stretch the crash out over a slightly longer amount of time, which significantly reduces the force that suddenly slams into the passengers inside. The passenger compartment itself, in contrast, is built as an extremely strong, rigid cage specifically so it resists crushing, protecting the space around the people inside even while the front and back absorb the impact.