Essays by Eric Worrall
h/t Geoff buys a car; Even minor accidents often result in battery drains ranging from £14,200 to £29,500.
Disclosure of electric vehicle repair costs compared to ICE equivalents
05/07/2023 at electric car news
…
The study, published by Thatcham Research and funded by the Government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, highlights the technical and practical differences between the battery electric vehicle (BEV) claim process. and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICE).
…
Modeling based on Thatcham Research data shows that by 2022, 9,400 vehicles are likely to be involved in a crash that would require battery repair. This number is estimated to reach 260,000 vehicles per year by 2035.
“Without meaningful change, it is highly likely that claims costs will continue to rise irregularly,” said Adrian Watson, head of technical research at Thatcham Research.
“Much of the motor vehicle insurance industry has yet to adapt to the challenges of mass BEV adoption and the yet-to-be quantified impacts on repair capacity, training and skills, costs and the lifetime sustainability of the BEV.
“This lack of awareness means that many BEVs are often considered irreparable, leading to premature write-offs due to the high cost of batteries and the lack of value that the UK ecosystem can recover from them. .”
Currently, the cost of replacing HV batteries is dramatically increasing the risk of a ‘total loss’ or write-off.
The cost of HV batteries varies widely, from high-end vehicles, which currently cost £29,500, to entry-level models that cost £14,200.
…
If the vehicle cannot be safely stored at the repair center, there will be additional costs associated with transportation to and from an alternative location, storage at the alternate location, along with the rental period. longer car.
…
An explainer video from Geoff Buys Cars;
report is available here.
Right now, it looks like insurers are mostly covering losses when insuring electric vehicles, but I doubt the situation is sustainable.
When I hit a kangaroo a few years ago, my car was still running, but there was a large dent on the front left side of the car, possibly related to the battery if I was driving an electric vehicle. My internal combustion car needs repair for about $1000 by memory. An equivalent electric vehicle repair could easily be one of those £14,200 – £29,500 write-offs.
$1000 vs £29,500 – that’s a big difference in insurance risk.
The report calls for developing battery repair skills to reduce this disparity, rather than wiping out expensive batteries, but is battery repair ever an acceptable option?
While Thatcham Research claims “technical solutions exist”, can any of you imagine accepting an electric car with a “repaired” battery pack? How much temptation will it be for EV battery repairers to cut corners, to increase profits by pushing margins to tolerable battery damage, to put the battery in an “already” battery pack? repair”?
It wouldn’t take many battery repair scandals and deadly insurance repair fires to slay any attempt to turn EV battery repairs into something.
Even if the battery repairman is honest, if the battery looks fine, and even if the battery cells pass the X-ray inspection, any of them could still contain damage from a crash at scale. micro-scale, turning the battery pack into a ticking time bomb.
Related
