- Insurance coverage claims recommend EVs are in various kinds of lower-speed crashes
- EVs usually tend to be rear-ended, much less prone to have front-end injury
- Combustion autos and EVs are full-loss totaled at about the identical fee
EVs are extra typically concerned in numerous sorts of collisions than internal-combustion vehicles, knowledge from Mitchell Worldwide present, with one-pedal driving techniques probably contributing to this.
Mitchell, which supplies tech for the auto insurance coverage and collision restore industries, has beforehand reported that EV collision restore prices are larger than these for gasoline autos. Now the corporate is delving into the kinds of fender-benders EVs are typically concerned in versus internal-combustion vehicles.
In a press launch revealed Wednesday, the corporate stated its knowledge reveals that EVs usually tend to maintain rear-end injury than internal-combustion autos, with these collisions accounting for 35.9% of EV collisions and 27.5% of internal-combustion automobile collisions, respectively. Combustion vehicles have a better frequency of front-end collisions, at 31.5%, in comparison with 25.8% for EVs.
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Mitchell believes that is probably down to 2 major elements. One is that EVs are typically newer, that means they’re extra prone to have the newest front-collision avoidance tech. The corporate additionally cited the “totally different braking dynamics” of EVs in one-pedal mode, which might trigger extra speedy deceleration that drivers in following vehicles aren’t ready for.
Whereas collisions involving a front-end impression are 40% costlier on common than these involving a rear-end impression, EVs nonetheless stay costlier to restore total, in line with Mitchell. The corporate’s knowledge reveals that in Q3, insurance coverage claims for repairable autos within the U.S. averaged $5,560 for EVs, $5,229 for plug-in hybrids, $4,426 for gentle hybrids, and $4,741 for non-hybrid combustion autos.
That continues a pattern from Q2, when Mitchell discovered that EV collision-repair prices had been 20% larger than these for different autos. Excessive restore prices had been additionally among the many causes cited by Hertz for slowing its EV plans.
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The newest report from Mitchell did present a touch about why this can be the case. Whereas about the identical proportion of elements are repaired, BEV vs ICE, BEV repairs require 90% original-equipment producer (OEM) elements, whereas ICE fashions require 64% OEM elements. The remaining come from the aftermarket, probably at a decrease price than OEM elements.
EVs and combustion autos are written off as a complete loss at about the identical fee—9.9% of all claims. The typical market worth of EVs declared a complete loss is $32,718, pretty near the $31,070 common for 2021-or-newer combustion autos, which Mitchell judged to be most just like EVs in complexity and price to restore.
Excessive EV restore prices are well-documented, however we’re now additionally seeing hints that the totally different driving dynamics of EVs might play a task within the frequency of collisions. Along with Mitchell’s citing of one-pedal driving as a think about rear-end collisions, a report revealed final month discovered that EV drivers are extra prone to be at fault in crashes, and famous that drivers’ habits modified when switching to an EV.
