2025 New Orleans Truck Attack: The Role of Electric Vehicles and Peer-to-Peer Platforms

Introduction 

On 1 January 2025, a pickup truck, driven by 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, resulting in at least 15 fatalities and over 30 injuries. Jabbar, a US-born citizen and Army veteran from Texas, was inspired by ISIS, according to the FBI. This attack marks a critical evolution in terrorist tactics, showcasing the intersection of consumer and terrorist technologies. First, the use of an electric vehicle (EV)—the Ford F-150 Lightning—introduces a new dimension to the lethality of vehicle-ramming attacks (VRAs), with its increased weight, silent operation, and rapid acceleration likely chosen to maximise impact. Second, the perpetrator’s use of peer-to-peer platforms such as Turo and Airbnb highlights how these services lower operational barriers and increase anonymity for attackers. The convenience and widespread adoption of these services may have played a crucial role in facilitating the attack. This piece sheds light on how these two increasingly common technologies—EVs and peer-to-peer rental applications—can be weaponised, underscoring the urgency for policymakers, industry leaders, and law enforcement to address these emerging threats as swiftly as modern terrorists adapt their methodologies. 

Vehicle Rammings Attack 

This incident exemplifies a vehicle-ramming attack, which is defined as the intentional use of a motor vehicle as a weapon to target pedestrians or occupied vehicles, with the vehicle serving as the primary weapon. Vehicle-ramming attacks are not a new phenomenon. According to a dataset of VRAs maintained by Yannick Veilleux-Lepage and Tim Wilson, set to be made public in late 2025, VRAs emerged as part of the Palestinian conflict. The first documented incident occurred in 1987, when a driver deliberately rammed his car into an IDF patrol in Nablus, wounding two soldiers. VRAs have since evolved, becoming a tactic employed by a diverse actors.  

The tactic gained international notoriety in the 2010s, with jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS explicitly advocating for VRAs in their propaganda. In 2010, al-Qaeda’s English-language magazine Inspire featured instructions on conducting attacks with vehicles, emphasising their lethality and ease of execution. Moreover, the first and third issues of ISIS’s magazine Rumiyah—published in 2016 —provided direct encouragement and instructions for using vehicles in attacks. The magazine emphasised the ease of lone-actor attacks and inspired notable incidents, including the 2016 Berlin Christmas market attack, the 2017 Westminster Bridge attack in London, and the van attack on La Rambla in Barcelona later that year.  

In recent years, vehicle-ramming attacks have been increasingly adopted by individuals with far-right ideologies, targeting specific groups based on race, religion, or political beliefs. Notable incidents include Darren Osborne's 2017 attack near Finsbury Park Mosque in London and Nathaniel Veltman's 2021 attack in Ontario, both targeting Muslims and motivated by hate. Additionally, vehicle-ramming has been used by far-right actors as a means of violent counter-protest. During the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on 12 August 2017, a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one person and injuring several others. Moreover, during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, over 100 incidents of vehicles ramming into demonstrators were reported across the United States. 

Electric Vehicles 

While vehicle-ramming attacks have a long history, the recent New Orleans attack highlights two significant elements of terrorist innovation that mark a shift in the evolution of these tactics. First, the use of an electric vehicle—a Ford F-150 Lightning—introduces a new dimension of malevolent creativity, exploiting the unique features of electric vehicles, like increased weight, silent operation, and rapid acceleration, to enhance their potential as tools for terror.  
 
Historically, VRAs have employed vehicles ranging from passenger cars to transport trucks to heavy equipment. This adaptability in the choice of vehicles has been explicitly encouraged and refined through terrorist propaganda. The third edition of ISIS’s Rumiyah magazine included an article titled "Just Terror Tactics," which outlined the features of ideal vehicles for terror assaults and provided an extensive analysis regarding the choice of targets. The publication emphasised the importance of a vehicle's speed and mass to maximise fatalities and injuries and specifically detailed the ideal weight and speed characteristics needed for vehicles used in terror operations. Likewise, a 2010 issue of al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine advised attackers to “pick up as much speed as you can” to “strike as many people as possible.” These instructions emphasised speed, mass, and the tactical advantages of sustained acceleration – guidelines which appeared to have been followed in the New Orleans attack. 

The significance of a vehicle's speed and mass in determining the severity of accidents is documented in automotive safety literature. This relationship is also evident in the emerging medical literature focusing on injuries sustained from vehicle-ramming incidents, where drivers intentionally target pedestrians. Unlike accidental impacts, these deliberate attacks often involve sustained acceleration and a lack of deceleration prior to impact, leading to more severe injuries among victims. For example, a 2016 study on VRAs in Israel between 2008 and 2016 highlights a distinct injury pattern and severity associated with this form of violence, distinguishing it from non-intentional pedestrian trauma. Victims of VRAs sustained significantly more severe head and lower extremity injuries due to the deliberate acceleration and high-energy impacts characteristic of these attacks. Mortality rates and the need for intensive care interventions were significantly higher in the VRA group compared to conventional pedestrian accidents, reflecting the calculated and violent nature of these attacks. 

These factors serve as potential explanations as to why an electric vehicle, was employed in the New Orleans attack. The Ford F-150 Lightning has a curb weight of approximately 6,015 pounds (2,728 kilograms). In contrast, traditional internal combustion engine variants of the Ford F-150 have curb weights ranging from about 4,021 pounds (1,825 kilograms) to 5,025 pounds (2,279 kilograms), depending on the specific model and configuration. The increased mass of the electric model is primarily due to the substantial weight of its battery pack, which significantly contributes to its curb weight. In the context of vehicle-ramming attacks, this additional weight could potentially enhance the vehicle's impact force, thereby increasing the severity of injuries inflicted during such an assault. 

The Ford F-150 Lightning's substantial mass and design are further complemented by its impressive torque and rapid acceleration, enhancing its potential impact in vehicle-ramming incidents. Equipped with dual inboard electric motors, the F-150 Lightning delivers a peak torque of 775 lb-ft, available instantaneously due to the nature of electric powertrains. This immediate torque enables the vehicle to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in approximately 4 seconds, a remarkable feat for a pickup truck of its size. In contrast, traditional internal combustion engine variants of the Ford F-150 offer varying torque outputs depending on the engine configuration fall short of the Lightning's torque capabilities.  

The recent vehicle-ramming attack in New Orleans underscores the critical importance of effective hostile vehicle mitigation measures, such as bollards, in safeguarding public spaces. Bollards—sturdy, vertical posts designed to block vehicle access—are instrumental in preventing unauthorised vehicles from entering pedestrian zones, thereby mitigating the risk of vehicle-as-weapon attacks. In New Orleans, the permanent steel bollard system along Bourbon Street was undergoing replacement at the time of the attack. The city had initiated this project in November 2024, aiming to enhance pedestrian safety ahead of the 2025 Super Bowl. During the transition, temporary barriers were installed, and police cruisers were strategically positioned to block vehicle access to certain areas. Security camera footage of the attack, released by various media outlets, shows the white Ford F-150 Lightning navigating through Canal Street traffic before making a sharp turn onto Bourbon Street. The vehicle was observed manoeuvring around a police cruiser positioned as a barricade. The F-150 Lightning’s instant torque and rapid acceleration allowed the driver to reach high speeds almost immediately after circumventing the police cruiser, without the need for a lengthy run-up to gain momentum. This capability likely contributed to the high casualty count. The selection of the Ford F-150 Lightning for the attack may have been influenced by various factors, including practical considerations such as the vehicle's availability on the rental platform reportedly used by the perpetrator, Turo. This aspect will be discussed in the following section.  

While more details on the tactical and symbolic choices of perpetrators are still forthcoming, the choice of an electric vehicle in the New Orleans attack—whether deliberate or accidental, practical or symbolic—may serve as a precedent for future acts of terror. The vehicle's unique features, such as its increased mass, rapid acceleration, and quiet operation, enhance its potential as a weapon for vehicle-ramming attacks. Given these characteristics, it is possible that other extremists may emulate this strategy, considering electric vehicles' ability to cause harm. 

Peer-to-Peer Rental Services 

In addition to utilising an EV, the suspected use of a car-sharing platform to acquire the vehicle represents a novel approach to planning a vehicle-ramming attack, reducing costs, lowering barriers to access, and offering an additional layer of anonymity. According to reports, the perpetrator utilised both Turo and Airbnb, renting a Ford F-150 in Houston before driving to New Orleans, where he stayed in a short-term rental. 

While rental vehicles have long been used in terrorist plots, the use to peer-to-peer platforms like Turo is novel and introduces new challenges. The 2024 Vehicle Incident Prevention and Mitigation Security Guide, published by the United States Department of Homeland Security, highlights the heightened risk posed by rental vehicles in vehicle-based attacks. Nothing that in “historically, some perpetrators [...] have chosen to rent large vans and trucks “and that “some of the most lethal vehicle incidents on record have been carried out using rental vehicles.” Noteworthy examples include the 2016 Bastille Day attack in Nice, which killed 86 and injured 434, and the Toronto ramming attack in 2018, which killed eleven and injured fifteen people.  

The document emphasises that vehicle rental company employees can serve as a crucial line of defence against individuals attempting to use rented vehicles for malicious purposes. By remaining vigilant and observing specific behaviours, employees can identify and report suspicious activities. The US Transportation Security Agency's offers similar directives to operators of heavy truck rental businesses. This approach puts a portion of the burden of mitigating potential VRAs in the hands of customer-facing agents ostensibly trained to recognise suspicious behaviours. 

However, this decentralised approach to threat mitigation is less effective for services like Turo, which operate on a peer-to-peer model that allows individuals to rent vehicles directly from private owners. This setup creates barriers to effectively monitoring customers for suspicious behaviours and limits the visibility and control that traditional rental agencies typically have. In fact, in the aftermath of the attack, Turo has expressed its commitment to cooperating with law enforcement agencies to address the misuse of its platform for criminal activities. The company emphasises the importance of its vetting process, which includes ID and background checks for users, though it acknowledges the limitations in predicting renter actions.  

The 1 January 2025, attack in New Orleans illustrates how these platforms can inadvertently facilitate terrorist plots. Investigations revealed that the perpetrator had stockpiled chemicals at his Airbnb rental, underscoring how short-term rentals can serve as low-profile safe houses. Unlike hotels with trained staff and standardised security protocols, Airbnb relies on user reviews and automated verification processes. These safeguards can be circumvented when perpetrators exploit less-active hosts or use aliases.

Airbnb’s Transparency Reports highlight the company’s growing efforts to collaborate with authorities, combat illegal activities and ban users linked to hate groups. The reports detail data requests from law enforcement, listings removed for policy violations, and new risk-detection tools. However, recent reports indicated that white supremacists and extremists have repeatedly found ways around bans, employing fake identities or intermediaries to disguise their intentions. 

A central concern is that hosts—ordinary people seeking extra income—are unprepared to spot sophisticated or subtle red flags. Most hosts do not physically inspect their properties while guests are present, and properties with self-check-in options significantly reduce any direct interaction. In the New Orleans attack, the owner lived out of state and relied on third-party cleaners to manage bookings. Compared to traditional rental agencies or hotels, where suspicious reservations can be flagged by trained employees, Airbnb often lacks a single point of human oversight.  

While it's unclear whether the perpetrator chose to use Turo and Airbnb because it offered a certain level of anonymity, an interesting parallel exists with the practices of sex traffickers who have been reported to utilise peer-to-peer housing platforms to facilitate their illicit activities. These platforms allow individuals to rent properties directly from private hosts, offering a level of privacy that traffickers can exploit. This anonymity makes it more challenging for authorities to monitor and detect suspicious activities compared to traditional hotel settings, where staff are trained to identify and report such behaviours. This prompted Airbnb to partner with the US Human Trafficking Hotline to train hosts and prevent trafficking. 

While the use of peer-to-peer vehicle rental services may offer certain advantages, such as increased anonymity for perpetrators, it is important to consider that these choices might be incidental rather than deliberate. Convenience, availability, and familiarity may explain why perpetrators use peer-to-peer services, which are now part of daily life. By 2023, Airbnb had 150 million users globally, making platforms like Airbnb and Turo default choices rather than deliberate strategies. Moreover, the economic and practical appeal of these services cannot be overlooked. Peer-to-peer services typically provide lower costs, greater variety, and more flexible terms than traditional companies. The perpetrator may have chosen a peer-to-peer rental simply for practical reasons, such as accessing a specific vehicle model or renting in areas where traditional options are limited. 

Implications and Conclusion 

The New Orleans vehicle-ramming attack highlights the intersection of emerging consumer technologies and terrorist tactics. Key vulnerabilities stem from EVs, whose heavy battery packs, silent operation, and rapid acceleration enhance their lethality in VRAs, and peer-to-peer platforms, which offer anonymity and lower barriers to access. These developments present challenges for law enforcement and industry. Counter-terrorism measures, such as hostile vehicle mitigation systems, must adapt to EV capabilities, while peer-to-peer services require stricter vetting, improved user verification, and closer cooperation with authorities to prevent misuse. 

The New Orleans case sets a dangerous precedent, showing how these tools could inspire new terrorist methodologies. As EVs and peer-to-peer platforms continue to evolve, they create both societal benefits and exploitable risks. Policymakers, industry leaders, and law enforcement must collaborate to address these threats, demonstrating that counter-terrorism efforts must evolve as quickly as the technologies exploited by modern terrorists. 

This article represents the views of the author(s) solely. ICCT is an independent foundation, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy unless clearly stated otherwise.