Electric Car Insurance Policies Soaring as Industry Discovers the Newest Major Drawback to EVs

Car insurers are being forced to hike their insurance rates for electric cars because the industry is realizing that there is yet another major drawback to electric vehicles.

The industry is discovering that they have a problem because EV battery packs cannot be repaired.

Even a small amount of damage makes an EV battery useless. And since the battery packs are such a huge part of the cost of an EV and many EVs can cost up top $20,000 to replace, insurers are being forced to junk entire cars even after slight damage.

The cost of so many EVs being junked has forced insurers to revisit their rate schedules and to institute higher premiums.

Per Fox Business Network:

Matthew Avery, research director at automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research, said the goal of electric vehicles was sustainability, but the inability to be repaired is creating a whole new problem.

“We’re buying electric cars for sustainability reasons,” Avery said, Reuters reported. “But an EV isn’t very sustainable if you’ve got to throw the battery away after a minor collision.”

These battery packs can also cost tens of thousands of dollars, representing as much as 50% of an EV’s price tag. This also makes replacing batteries uneconomical.

These cars also pile up in scrapyards, usually with low mileage, exacerbating the problem.

According to Reuters, EV salvage sales in the U.S. and Europe includes low-mileage Teslas, Nissan Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co, Stellantis, BMW, Renault and others.

Unless EV batteries are more easily repairable, the pile-ups will increase — and so too, will premiums, experts predict.

And once again, we find that electric vehicles are simply not all they are cracked up to be.

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