Although electric car drivers cause fewer accidents, repairing their vehicles is significantly more expensive. “On average, they are 30 to 35 percent higher than those of comparable cars with combustion engines,” said Jörg Asmussen, general manager of the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) on Thursday. The statement is based on a comparison of 37 model pairs of electric cars and comparable combustion engines by the GDV.
Christoph Lauterwasser, Managing Director of the Allianz Center for Technology, attributes the higher repair costs to several reasons: Damage to batteries is expensive. There is also uncertainty when dealing with damaged electric cars, which is why some of them are stored in quarantine for a long time or become total losses due to precautionary measures such as immersion in fire containers. In addition, there are long downtimes and high hourly rates in the workshops.
“We have more than 125 years of experience with combustion engines, but only around ten years with modern electric vehicles,” says Lauterwasser. Heinz Gressel from GDV is therefore demanding that manufacturers provide good diagnostic data for workshops and experts, sustainable instructions for repairing and partially replacing damaged batteries, and precise criteria on how to deal with accident cars. In addition, batteries should be protected as much as possible from accident damage during the vehicle design.
Significantly lower damage frequency
However, at least part of the higher repair costs is offset by the significantly lower frequency of damage to electric cars in the fully comprehensive range – i.e. self-inflicted damage to your own car. According to the study, it is 15 to 20 percent lower than that of comparable combustion engines.
In the area of liability insurance, the study found that electric car drivers caused 5 to 10 percent less damage to other cars. On average, however, these were 0 to 5 percent more expensive than combustion engines. Possible causes here are the higher weight and stiff bodies of electric cars.
