Scratched EV battery? Your insurer may have to scrap the entire car | – #Scratched #battery #insurer #scrap #entire #car
LONDON/DETROIT, 20 March (Reuters) – For many electric cars, there is no way to repair or value battery packs that are even slightly damaged after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars after a few miles – leading to higher premiums and profits. causes a decrease. the electricity goes on.
Now these battery packs end up being scrapped in some countries, a previously unreported and expensive loophole in what is supposed to be a “circular economy”.
Thatcham Research car “We’re buying electric cars for sustainability reasons,” said Matthew Avery, director of research at the risk intelligence firm. “But if you have to throw out the battery after a minor collision, the EV isn’t very durable.”
Battery packs can cost tens of thousands of dollars and make up 50% of an EV’s price tag, making them often cost-effective to replace.
Ford Motor Co (FN) and General Some like Motors Co (GM.N). car Tesla Inc ( TSLA.O ) has taken the opposite step with its Texas-built Model Y, even as manufacturers say they’re making battery pack repairs easier. the new structural battery pack has been described by experts as having “zero repairability”.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
of Reuters USA and a search for EV salvage sales in Europe shows a large number of low-mileage Teslas, but also models from Nissan Motor Co ( 7201.T ), Hyundai Motor Co ( 005380.KS ), Stellantis ( STLAM.MI ). , BMW (BMWG.DE), Renault (RENA.PA), etc.
Electric vehicles make up only a fraction of the vehicles on the road, making industry-wide data difficult to obtain, but there is a growing trend of low-mileage, zero-emission vehicles being scrapped with minor damage. Tesla’s decision to make its battery packs – part of the car’s body – “structural” has allowed it to reduce manufacturing costs, but risks passing those costs back on to consumers and insurers.
Tesla has not cited any issues with insurers writing off their cars. However january In 2016, CEO Elon Musk said premiums from third-party insurance companies were “unreasonably high in some cases.”
Insurers and industry experts, Tesla and others car unless manufacturers produce more easily repairable battery packs and provide third-party access to battery cell data, as EV sales increase and more low-mileage vehicles are involved in collisions cancellation as it happens, the already high insurance premiums will continue to rise. .
“The number of jobs will increase, so working with batteries is a crucial point,” said Christoph Lauterwasser, managing director of the Allianz Technology Center, a research institute owned by Allianz ( ALVG.DE ).
Lauterwasser noted that manufacturing EV batteries emits more CO2 than fossil-fuel models, meaning electric vehicles generate additional emissions. compensation must be driven thousands of miles before doing so.
“If you drop the car at an early stage, you’ve lost almost all of your advantage in terms of CO2 emissions,” he said.
Most automakers have said their battery packs are repairable, though few seem willing to share access to battery data. Insurers, leasing companies and auto repair shops are already fighting for access to lucrative connected car data with car manufacturers in the EU.
Access to EV battery data is part of that fight, Lauterwasser said. Allianz has seen scratched battery packs where the cells inside were not likely to be damaged, but had to write off these vehicles without diagnostic information.
Ford and GM are introducing newer, more repairable packages. But the new, large 4,680 cells in the Model Y, made at Tesla’s plant in Austin, Texas, are attached to a package that forms part of the car’s structure and cannot be easily removed or replaced, experts say.
January In May, Tesla’s Musk said the automaker was making design and software changes to its cars to reduce maintenance costs and insurance premiums.
The company also USAin dozens of states of their insurance product at lower prices to Tesla owners offer does.
Insurers and industry experts also point out that EVs are loaded with all the latest safety features and so far have seen fewer accidents than traditional cars.
‘STRAIGHT GRINDER’
Sandy Munro, president of Michigan-based Munro & Associates, which dismantles cars and advises automakers on how to improve them, said the Model Y battery pack has “zero repairability.”
“The Tesla structural battery pack goes straight to the mill,” Munro said.
Problems with EV batteries also reveal a hole in the green “circular economy” promoted by automakers.
Michael Hill, head of operations at Synetiq, the UK’s largest salvage company, said that over the past 12 months at the firm’s isolation unit at its Doncaster yard – fire the number of EVs that need to be checked to prevent the risk has increased. every three days to ten days 20up to
“We’ve seen a really big shift, and it’s across all manufacturers,” Hill said.
There are currently no EV battery recycling facilities in the UK, so Synetiq must remove batteries from scrapped vehicles and store them in containers. Hill estimated that at least 95% of the cells in the hundreds of EV battery packs and thousands of hybrid battery packs stored by Synetiq in Doncaster are not damaged and should be reused.
Most EVs already cost more to insure than traditional cars.
In 2023, according to online broker Policygenius USAAverage monthly electric car insurance payment in 206 dollars is 27% more than the combustion engine model.
According to Bankrate, an online publisher of financial content, US insurers know that “if even a minor accident results in damage to the battery pack … the cost to replace this key component can exceed $15,000.”
Replacement battery for Tesla Model 3 20It can cost up to $.000, with a retail price of around 43,000 dollars which, however, wears out quickly over time.
Andy Keane, UK commercial motor product manager at French insurer AXA ( AXAF.PA ), said expensive replacement batteries “can sometimes make it impossible to replace a battery”.
The number of repair shops specializing in electric vehicle repair and battery replacement is increasing. Gruber Motor Co. in Phoenix, Arizona specializes in replacing batteries in older Tesla models.
But insurers don’t have access to Tesla’s battery data, so they’re taking a cautious approach, owner Peter Gruber said.
“The insurance company is not going to take that risk because if something happens to that car and they don’t get it done, then court they will face,” he said.
“PAIN POINTS”
Britain government funded research into home insurance ‘pain points’ led by Thatcham, Synetiq and insurer LV=.
A Commission source said the recently adopted EU battery rules do not specifically address battery repairs, but they Europe The commission was asked to promote standards to “facilitate maintenance, repair and repurposing.”
Insurers say they know how to fix the problem – make batteries in smaller parts or modules, which are easier to repair, and open up diagnostic data to third parties to determine battery cell health.
Individual US insurers declined to comment.
But Mutual Insurance Companies National “Consumer access to vehicle-generated data will improve driver safety and policyholder satisfaction by simplifying the entire repair process,” said Tony Cotto, the association’s director of automotive and underwriting policy.
The lack of access to critical diagnostic data was filed against Tesla in mid-March in the US District Court of California court was raised in the lawsuit.
Insurers said failure to act would cost consumers dearly.
EV battery damage accounts for only a few percent of Allianz’s auto insurance claims, but accounts for 8 percent of insurance payouts in Germany, Lauterwasser said. Germany’s insurers aggregate data on car claims and adjust premium rates annually.
“If the price of a particular model goes up, that will raise premium levels because the rating goes up,” Lauterwasser said.
Reporting by Nick Carey and Sarah McFarlane in London, Paul Lienert in Detroit, Gilles Guillaume in Paris and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan Additional reporting by Victoria Valdersen in Berlin Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-03-20 12:20:24
Source – reuters
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