A "first of its kind" study by the University of Lincoln in the UK, in partnership with British car sales website CarGurus, has concluded that dogs are more relaxed in electric vehicles (EVs) than internal combustion engine (ICE) diesel ones; diesel presumably chosen to represent the extreme opposite in electric in terms of noise and vibration.
The study was carried out in part as a response to "anecdotal concerns that the differences in vibration and/or noise experienced in an EV may cause dogs to be unsettled or have increased car sickness."
The two-day study used 20 dogs. Each was taken on two 10-minute journeys, one in an EV followed by the same route in a diesel, before a range of scientific measures were used to analyse the dog’s behaviour.
In the findings of the study, led by Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at Lincoln, the dogs were less settled in diesel cars compared to EVs.
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While the dogs in the study lay for around a third of the journey’s duration regardless of powertrain, in diesel cars dogs broke their laying position on average 50 per cent more than when in an EV. Prof Mills says this is likely the result of differences in noise and/or vibration in the two types of cars.
Another notable finding from the study was that a small number of dogs appeared to feel markedly less nauseous in an EV compared to a diesel car. This was demonstrated by changes in behaviour and the fact that their heart rates reduced by up to 30 per cent when travelling in an EV.
“During their journeys in the EVs, biometric recordings of these dogs revealed their heart rates slowed markedly more than when they were in diesel cars. This was of particular interest to us given an increase in heart rate is commonly associated with motion sickness.