The BBC reports that some passengers feel sick in electric vehicles – but could there be more to the story?
8th October 2026
EV car-sickness: are we missing something?
The BBC is reporting that some passengers are becoming sick when travelling in electric vehicles (EVs), with acceleration, regenerative braking, reduced engine noise and sensory conflict suggested as possible explanations.
But is motion sickness the whole story?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3y0zx822wlzo
The BBC reports people who say they had never experienced this problem before travelling in an EV, while others have become sick in electric taxis.
At the same time, Microwave News has reported significant magnetic-field exposures and transient pulses associated with acceleration and braking in electric and hybrid vehicles.
https://microwavenews.com/news-center/wakeup-call-ev-industry
That raises a simple question: are some passengers experiencing conventional motion sickness or could the electromagnetic environment inside an EV also be causing EV car- sickness?
Symptoms deserve investigation
Nausea, dizziness, vertigo, headaches, fatigue, sweating and a general feeling of unwellness are among symptoms reported by people who describe themselves as experiencing electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).
Some of these symptoms overlap with those now being reported as EV car-sickness.
Brian Stein CBE: Personal experience
Brian Stein CBE, Chairman of the Radiation Research Trust, became electrically sensitive in 2000. His experience with modern vehicles has led him to raise concerns about electromagnetic exposure inside cars, particularly electric vehicles.
Brian says:
“I became ES in 2000. I found driving modern cars difficult for me because of the electronics in the front of the car. I drove my wife’s old Nissan Micra. I usually sat in the back of modern cars, which was generally OK. My Finance Director changed his car to an electric car. After a few minutes in the back of his car I had to stop and return to base as I could not cope with the sensations I had in the electric car. Very bad.”
Brian’s experience is a powerful personal account of how modern vehicle technology can affect someone who is electrically sensitive. It is also a reason why the electromagnetic environment inside electric and hybrid vehicles needs to be properly measured and investigated.
A historical warning from Israel
Brian also remembers concerns about electromagnetic exposure from hybrid vehicles in Israel.
In 2010, an Israeli public-state committee recommended that radiation from every hybrid car should be measured and vehicles classified into three risk groups. Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection also recognised that professional drivers, such as taxi drivers, could spend considerably longer in their vehicles than the 18 hours per week used in its assessment.
See: Green Car Reports, “Is Radiation from Hybrid Vehicles a Cause for Concern?”
Further reading: Israeli Occupational Safety and Health Institute, report updated 28 April 2010
What happens inside an EV?
Previous Radiation Research Trust reports have highlighted electromagnetic fields measured inside electric and hybrid vehicles.
Measurements by Seibersdorf Laboratories in Austria examined very-low-frequency and intermediate-frequency magnetic fields inside electric and hybrid vehicles. The work was commissioned by Germany’s Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS).
BfS: Magnetic fields in electric and hybrid vehicles – Seibersdorf Laboratories report
The Microwave News reporting is particularly relevant because it describes transient magnetic-field peaks associated with acceleration and braking, with some of the highest measurements occurring around the feet and lower legs.
Microwave News: “Wake-Up Call for EV Industry”
If exposure changes as the vehicle accelerates and brakes, it deserves to be measured alongside the symptoms passengers report.
The Philips graph
The graph below, prepared by Alasdair Philips, compares magnetic-field measurements inside electric and hybrid vehicles with exposure reference levels associated with ICNIRP and the more precautionary EUROPAEM guidance. The Bau-Biology Guidelines are set at even lower levels.
The important point is that these are different guidance frameworks.
EUROPAEM Guidance:
Is ICNIRP compliance enough?
The debate should not simply be reduced to whether an EV is described as “ICNIRP compliant.”
ICNIRP’s low-frequency guidelines are principally concerned with established short-term effects such as nerve and muscle stimulation.
The wider scientific debate includes questions about longer-term, lower-level, pulsed and biologically complex electromagnetic exposures.
Compliance with an exposure guideline does not, by itself, answer every question about health.
That is why independent measurements and health research are needed.
What should be investigated?
With millions more people travelling in electric and hybrid vehicles, we believe independent testing should establish:
- • Which makes and models produce the highest electromagnetic fields?
- • When are exposures highest – acceleration, braking or cruising?
- • Where inside the vehicle are passengers most exposed?
- • What frequencies, pulses and transient fields are present?
- • Do reported symptoms occur alongside identifiable exposure patterns?
The public should not be treated as guinea pigs in a real-world experiment.
Before assuming every case is simply motion sickness, let’s investigate the vehicle, measure the exposure and listen to the people experiencing the symptoms.
Have you experienced EV car-sickness?
The BBC is asking EV drivers and passengers who have experienced nausea or sickness to share their experiences.
Have your Say: https://www.bbc.co.uk/send/u187894196
Your news, your pictures https://www.bbc.co.uk/send/u16904890
What have we done?
The Radiation Research Trust is taking this issue forward.
On 8 October 2026, we wrote to Richard Judge, Chair of the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), asking how electromagnetic exposure inside electric and hybrid vehicles is currently assessed within vehicle type approval and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) testing.
We have asked for a response on whether current testing adequately captures the very-low-frequency and intermediate-frequency magnetic fields, transient and pulsed fields reported in recent measurements of electric and hybrid vehicles, including fields associated with acceleration and regenerative braking.
We have called for a simple, standardised and independent testing programme to establish the electromagnetic environment inside electric and hybrid vehicles. This should include measurements at driver and passenger positions, around the feet and lower legs, across relevant frequencies, and under different vehicle operating conditions.
Our letter also calls for funding for research into driver concentration and reaction time while continuously exposed to the pulsing magnetic fields experienced when driving an EV or PHEV.
We have asked that actual measured exposure levels should be reported rather than simply describing a vehicle as “EMC compliant”, and that results should be considered alongside more precautionary recommendations, including those published by EUROPAEM and the Bau-Biology guidelines.
We have also raised concerns about the VCA Automotive Type Approval for Electromagnetic Compatibility document, which is currently published without a date, and have asked for clarification about its status and the basis of the guidance it contains.
Our letter has been copied to Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP, Secretary of State for Transport, because this is not simply a question for vehicle manufacturers. It concerns vehicle certification, public safety, occupational exposure and the way electromagnetic exposure is assessed as the UK moves towards an increasingly electric and connected transport system.
We are simply asking for the evidence to be properly examined.
Measure the vehicles. Publish the exposure levels. Investigate the symptoms.
What can you do?
Help us get this question heard.
We have prepared a copy of our letter to the Chair of the Vehicle Certification Agency, setting out our concerns about electromagnetic exposure inside electric and hybrid vehicles and the need for independent measurement, transparency and precaution.
Download the RRT letter and send a copy to your MP and the Department for Transport.
When sending the RRT letter, we encourage you to include a short support letter of your own.
Please include your name and address and explain briefly why this issue concerns you. You may wish to mention whether you drive, work in or regularly travel in an electric or hybrid vehicle, whether you have experienced symptoms or concerns yourself, or simply why you believe electromagnetic exposure should be properly measured and investigated.
Your personal letter does not need to be long. The important thing is that your MP and the Minister can see that this is a matter of genuine public concern.
You can then attach the RRT letter to your own letter and send both together.
Please also share this article and the RRT letter with people who drive, work in or travel in electric and hybrid vehicles, particularly professional drivers who may spend many hours each day inside these vehicles.
The more people who ask for proper measurement, transparency, independent investigation and a precautionary approach, the harder it becomes to overlook the question.
The symptoms are being reported.
The exposure can be measured.
It is time to investigate both.
Related Radiation Research Trust reports
RRT Response to UK HSA Position on EMFs, EHS and Current Guidance
Hybrid & Electric Cars: Electromagnetic Radiation Risks
Lithium-Ion Battery Fires, Smart Meter Hazards, and Growing Concerns Over 5G Mast Safety
