If you read Part 1 of this series, you know why electric cars can make some passengers queasy. Instant torque, invisible braking, a silent cabin, weight that needs careful tuning — four causes, all of them manageable.
So this article is about the fixes. There are practical things drivers can do, habits passengers can adopt, and technology that's already making the problem smaller. Start with the simplest fixes, and you'll usually solve most of them within a week.
1. For drivers: three changes that solve most of it
Most car sickness in EVs comes from unpredictable inputs — sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration. Three changes remove most of the unpredictability:
Lower the regenerative braking setting. This is the single most effective change. High-strength regen, including one-pedal driving, creates the invisible deceleration that upsets passengers' inner ears. Reduce it, and lifting off the pedal becomes gradual and predictable again. The car coasts more like the petrol cars your passengers are used to.
Use comfort mode when you have passengers. Comfort-oriented driving modes soften power delivery, smoothing the instant torque that causes queasiness. Save sport mode for solo drives — with passengers, the gentler character is the difference between comfortable and queasy.
Drive with anticipation. Smooth throttle and brake inputs give passengers' senses time to keep up. Look further ahead, ease into acceleration, and brake early and gently. It's not about driving slowly — it's about removing the surprises.
These three changes aren't sacrifices. They're simply using the car's adjustable character the way it was designed.
2. For passengers: five habits that help
If you're the one getting queasy, these habits make a real difference:
Sit in the front if you can. The front of the car moves least, and the view ahead is clearer — both reduce the sensory confusion that causes nausea.
Look at the horizon, not at a phone or screen. Reading is one of the fastest ways to trigger motion sickness in any car, EV or not.
Open a window or use fresh-air ventilation. Airflow is one of the oldest and most reliable remedies for nausea.
Rest your head against the headrest. It reduces the head movement that feeds motion sickness, and gives your inner ear a more stable reference.
Eat lightly before travelling. An empty stomach makes nausea worse; so does a heavy or greasy meal. Small, light and sensible is the rule.
None of these is complicated. Together, they usually turn a queasy journey into an ordinary one.
3. For families: the rear-seat problem deserves attention
In Part 1 we explained why the back seat is where motion sickness hits hardest: rear passengers sit closer to the wheels, feel more movement and see less of the road.
If you're choosing an EV for the family — as more households choosing electric cars in Australia are — the rear seat deserves as much attention as the driver's seat. Check how the car behaves from the second row on a real road — over bumps, through corners, under braking — not just in a smooth showroom loop. And if children or older relatives are prone to sickness, test the car with them in the back, at real-world speeds.
A car that feels smooth from the driver's seat can still be unsettled from the second row — the most important test for anyone buying a family electric car.
4. What the technology is doing about it
Modern electric car technology is working on all four causes, and the progress is real:
Adjustable regenerative braking is now standard on most EVs — drivers can choose gentler settings, or let the car coast naturally.
Comfort and anti-nausea driving modes are appearing, softening power delivery and smoothing transitions.
Simulated engine sound is offered by several brands to restore the audio cues passengers' brains rely on.
Intelligent suspension is learning to manage weight properly — keeping the body level under braking and acceleration instead of letting it pitch and rock.
Each of these directly targets one of the four causes from Part 1. They're not marketing gimmicks — they're engineering responses to a real passenger experience.
5. XPENG: engineering the passenger experience
This is where XPENG's approach comes in — treating passenger comfort as a first-class engineering problem, not an afterthought.
On the NEW G6 electric SUV and the X9, dual-chamber air suspension works with an AI-driven chassis to keep the body composed — less pitching under braking, less rocking over bumps, less of the low-frequency movement that triggers nausea. The system reads the road in real time and adjusts damping continuously — so the second row stays calm even on imperfect surfaces.
Regenerative braking is adjustable, letting you choose how strong the deceleration feels. Comfort-oriented driving modes soften power delivery when passengers are aboard. And the driving assistance systems handle the predictable parts of driving — smooth adaptive cruise control in traffic, for example — so the people in the back get fewer sudden inputs.
The goal isn't just a smooth driver's seat. It's a car that everyone in it feels good riding in — including the passengers who never touch the wheel.
Conclusion
Motion sickness in EVs isn't something you have to live with. It's a set of solvable problems: drivers can change their inputs, passengers can change their habits, and technology is already smoothing out the rough edges.
The electric driving experience — silent, instant, efficient — is worth keeping. The queasiness is a tuning problem, and it's being tuned away. If you're already driving an EV, try the three driver changes this week. If you're choosing one, take the rear-seat test. Both work.
Ready to feel what a passenger-focused EV is like? Book a test drive with XPENG — one of Australia's leading Chinese EV brands — and bring the family. Sit everyone in the second row, and judge the ride from where passengers actually sit.
Note: Driving characteristics and feature availability vary by model and specification. Motion sickness susceptibility varies between individuals. Part 1: Why Do Electric Cars Make Some People Car Sick?
