Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Geoff Buys Cars; Even minor accidents often lead to a £14,200 – £29,500 battery write-off.
Electric vehicle repair costs revealed versus ICE equivalent
05/07/2023 in Electric fleet news
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The research, published by Thatcham Research and funded by the Government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, highlights the technical and practical differences between battery electric vehicle (BEVs) and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle insurance claims processes.
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Thatcham Research’s data-driven modelling shows that in 2022, 9,400 vehicles were potentially involved in collisions resulting in battery inclusion in the repair. This is estimated to reach up to 260,000 vehicles annually by 2035.
Adrian Watson, head of engineering research, Thatcham Research, said: “Without meaningful change, there is a strong likelihood that claims costs will continue to rise disproportionally.
“Much of the motor insurance industry is yet to adapt to mass BEV adoption challenges, and the implications remain unquantified on repair capacity, training and skills, cost, and the lifetime sustainability of BEVs.
“This lack of awareness means many BEVs are often deemed irreparable, leading to premature write-offs because of high battery cost and the lack of value the UK ecosystem can recover from them.”
Currently, the cost of a replacement HV battery is causing a significant increase in the risk of ‘total loss’ or write-offs.
The cost of HV batteries varies widely from high-end vehicles, currently costing £29,500, to the low-end costing £14,200.
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If the vehicle cannot be safely stored at the repair centre there will be further costs associated with transportation to and from an alternative location, storage at the alternative location, along with a longer duration of hire vehicle.
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Read more: https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/electric-fleet-news/2023/07/05/electric-vehicle-repair-costs-revealed-versus-ice-equivalent
A video explanation from Geoff Buys Cars;
The report is available here.
For now it looks like insurance companies are mostly absorbing the losses of covering EVs, but I doubt this situation is sustainable.
When I hit a kangaroo a few years ago, my vehicle was still drivable, but there was a big dent in front left of the vehicle, which would have involved the battery if I was driving an EV. My internal combustion vehicle required about $1000 of repairs from memory. An equivalent EV repair could easily have been one of those £14,200 – £29,500 write-offs.
$1000 vs £29,500 – that’s a big difference in terms of insurance risk.
The report calls for the development of battery repair skills to mitigate this disparity, rather than expensive battery write-offs, but will battery repair ever been an acceptable option?
While Thatcham Research claims “technical solutions do exist”, can any of you imagine accepting an EV with a “repaired” battery pack? How much temptation will there be for EV battery repairers to cut corners, to boost profits by pushing the margin on what level of battery damage is acceptable, for the battery to be included in a “repaired” battery pack?
It wouldn’t take many battery repair scandals and deadly insurance repair fires to kill any attempt to make EV battery repair a thing.
Even if battery repairers are honest, if a battery looks OK, and even if battery cells pass X-ray inspection, any one of those cells could still contain micro-scale crash damage which turns the battery pack into a ticking time bomb.
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Come on, man! You can’t “repair” a Li-ion battery, once it is screwed it is screwed for all eternity. You can break it down to its component parts, if you manage not to have it ignite in your face.
Battery vehicle fires, either through an accident, or spontaneous self combustion, will occur in greater frequency as more hit the roads
These fires are highly explosive in nature, burn with hell like ferocity and are very difficult to extinguish
When they do combust, the collateral damage to surrounding vehicles and structures will be of the most severe magnitude
People, including Fire Services, have little to no experience of combatting a raging battery fire, which further increases hazard and risk
Insurers are by default, risk averse
As with smart motorways, unacceptable accidents & deaths were their nemesis, the same epitaph awaits the battery car
Actually that’s a good point about collateral damage, now if there’s a fuel spillage after a road traffic collision the road is closed whilst it’s cleaned up. If there’s damage to the road surface because of an ICE car fire the road is closed for resurfacing.
However, if there’s an EV fire it won’t be just the surface that will burn but significantly deeper. Also when the road surface burns what toxic chemicals will be released? Plus the carbon dioxide.
How are BEVs NCAP/Crash tested? I’ve found references to Full frontal collision, various overlap collisions, roof integrity tests. But it’s unclear if the battery is fully charged or completely discharged.
I don’t think that vehicle to vehicle tests are normally carrid out. It might be interesting to see a BEV to BEV crash with fully charged batteries. Also followed by a full investigation of the battery.
Perhaps BEV batteries need an NCAP rating
I have a horrible feeling that ICE drivers will be picking up the tab through increased insurance, servicing and repair costs.
After all, it wouldn’t be fair if the poor old EV drivers had to stump up for it!
Isn’t it about time that we admit that wind, solar and battery vehicles are all a fool’s errand? It’s not complicated.
Since we have skewing off topic anyway/ I will add my 2 $ ( inflation). I have been wondering for awhile now what the heck is even holding our economies together at all. Seems like things should have already crashed horribly . When your just living off more credit cards … we’ll you know I can’t imagine any kind of “ soft landing”
the graft and unintended consequences, government debt, use of other peoples money without their permission, lack of economic analysis . I am especially pissed because I went to a site not long ago that showed how many of my local fellow businesses owners took Government Covid employee retention funds, and they are still giving it away and promoting it! Ads all over media, still. They gotta run out of other peoples money ( and credit) before long with all these schemes.
Another EV subsidy! Everyone else pays for the high EV repair costs.
While it wasn’t explicitly stated, and is probably put down to something else if it were possible to get a statement from the industry, my insurance this year went up about $500 — just to be able to register the car so it isn’t stolen by the state for appearing on the road. Which is to say, the policy is liability only, no collision, theft, etc coverage. I never had an insurance claim and have had not traffic tickets for more than 40 years.
Thatcham Research’s data-driven modelling shows that…………………………..
Modelling? Do we trust modelling? Is it a case of some modelling good, some modelling bad?
“This is estimated to reach up to 260,000 vehicles annually by 2035.”
260 000 – somewhere over the rainbow.
The solution couldn’t be more simple, remove all subsidies, tax incentives, make owners pay full price for recharging, add taxes to the charging fee and require high insurance premiums because they are so dangerous on the road or parked.
Back in tge day, propane powered cars were a thing. Then they weren’t allowed to park in closed parkades. Fire/explosion risk. Where are the propane civilian cars now?
How many lithium battery fires will it take to prevent EVs from being parked in downtown parkades? Or in your garage attached to your house? I wouldn’t want it there.
Rearend collisions in EVs? I just saw an F350 hit a Kia. The Kia was crushed to the backseat. Writeoff. But fas tank secure! The truck had a broken plastic grill and bent hood. Nobody injured. If the Kia had been Ev, I’ll bet two dead in a big fire.