Essay by Eric Worrall
First published JoNova, Not a lot of people know that; Would you want to drive an EV whose batteries might have been subtly damaged by a minor collision, even if there were no visible signs of damage?
Scratched EV battery? Your insurer may have to junk the whole car
By Nick Carey, Paul Lienert and Sarah Mcfarlane
LONDON/DETROIT, March 20 (Reuters) – For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles – leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric.
And now those battery packs are piling up in scrapyards in some countries, a previously unreported and expensive gap in what was supposed to be a “circular economy.”
“We’re buying electric cars for sustainability reasons,” said Matthew Avery, research director at automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research. “But an EV isn’t very sustainable if you’ve got to throw the battery away after a minor collision.”
…
Lauterwasser noted EV battery production emits far more CO2 than fossil-fuel models, meaning EVs must be driven for thousands of miles before they offset those extra emissions.
“If you throw away the vehicle at an early stage, you’ve lost pretty much all advantage in terms of CO2 emissions,” he said.
…
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/scratched-ev-battery-your-insurer-may-have-junk-whole-car-2023-03-20/
So much for the green “circular economy”.
There are plenty of videos online of EVs spontaneously combusting, suffering thermal runaway.
Given this apparent risk, and how that risk appears to be magnified if the battery suffers a mechanical shock, it is understandable that insurers appear to be quietly taking the view that even minor collisions could turn an EV battery into a ticking time bomb.
The following video from 2022 mentions the insurance battery dumping issue. It also touches on strenuous attempts by EV manufacturers to mitigate the fire risk, by exploring different battery chemistry, and attempts to commercialise allegedly much safer solid state batteries.
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For those EV owners disillusioned about their EV after the first refueling, my buddy offers a service where you can convert your EV into cash, then buy an ICE car and have a lot of money left over for fun things, like hoo kers, cr ack and b ooze if you happen to be Hunter Biden.
Make sure you have good EV insurance first, and then contact my buddy
for his EV Recycling Service:
Walter “I didn’t do it” Washington
Suite 34
Cellblock B
Jackson Prison
Jackson, Michigan 49201
Appointments are available in six months.
$800 cash or money order only.
Running a limited check on local sources of ‘used’ Nissan Leaf EVs one finds remarkably low mileages against age. Barely one fifth go 10000 miles a year which is roughly normal for an ICE car. Many circa 8000 in c. Four years. Clearly toys for the rich and ‘second car runabout’
Manager where I work was hit a couple of months ago while driving and EV. The car is still in the shop and will be for a while. Hopefully the battery does not spontaneously ignite down the road.
Another interesting snippet from Marty Cornell at the 15th International Conference on Climate Change. If the number of BEVs does increase as targeted, the demand for raw materials will escalate, to the point where existing resources will not meet demand. Requiring new mining facilities to be discovered and developed. That will take 16 -20 years.
In addition it will require more effort to mine, thereby increasing CO2 production. At present a BEV, breaks even with an ICE vehicle at around 70K miles. Whereas in the future it will never match an ICE.
https://youtu.be/xaneUM_BKxQ
So one should not drive an EV during deer season. Deer season will be the end for many EVs.
See the stats here.
https://www.moneygeek.com/insurance/auto/deer-car-accidents/
Most of these occur from November to middle of January. Its a bad time to drive in early morning for internal combustion vehicles, it would be disaster for EVs.
Deer collisions are difficult to avoid. Deer just jump out on the roads and there is very little a driver can do to stop it.
I was just thinking about that… Just hitting a deer and having it bounce off the vehicle might not cause any more damage to an EV than it would to a comparable ICE vehicle. But, imaging running over a deer! Yes, that could do damage to the undercarriage of an ICE with low clearance, but imagine a hoof or antler puncturing the battery!
So you can hit your deer and cook it too!
(Hope like it very well done.)
We’re going to need a lot more cameras.
Who wants to sail on the luxurious Titanic (lithium) ship?
story tip
Five shipping bodies join forces in bid to make transport of lithium-ion batteries safer – Splash247
“…leading to higher premiums…”
I should hope that EVs are in a different insurance pool than ICE cars if they have unique problems raising the claims on the insurance companies.
“We’re buying electric cars for
sustainability[virtue signaling] reasons.Fixed it.
No one said that saving the planet wasn’t gonna be easy.
So, just like the so-called covid “vaccine”, EVs appear to be safe and effective.
I suppose the EV makers could load up each battery pack with government approved tamper proof g sensors that would record any undue forces on the battery.Sarc.
“No way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs”.
If this is true, one might hope they’d inform prospective buyers?