Drivers who ditched petrol and diesel to help save the planet face huge price rises in premiums
TLDR: don’t get a Tesla. Get literally any other EV if you want an EV.
This was us a couple years ago. Budgeted for a Tesla as a 2nd vehicle, did a test drive, looked into things like insurance and servicing more closely and noped out of it. At the time it was about $3200 a year to insure a Model 3.
Instead of getting a single car, I got a Hyundai EV, and we traded in the old Toyota Hybrid as well and got a plug-in hybrid for less than the Tesla would have cost us. Plus insurance for both is about $1000 less than the Tesla alone. The math didn’t make sense.
It’s interesting. My next car will be electric, hopefully. It’s never even occurred to me until now that the insurance would be hugely different
Analysts say claims costs are 25% higher for electric cars, and that they also take about 14% longer
Why?
EV batteries are huge, hard to repair, and expensive. Along with EVs generally requiring specialist repair and everything being sealed up and proprietary.
Sealed and proprietary is a problem with anything, and I hate it, but I don’t think the battery is normally the problem. They out last the rest of the car from what I’m seeing. There are people are using them for second life stuff.
from what ive been seeing on phones and other consumer electronics, batteries are the most disposable part on anything.
they generally have a shorter expected lifespan than any other component, not sure about cars but i would not bet on it outlasting many other parts
ill believe it when i see it, its the same lithium polymer tech as on other devices
Don’t know where you are, but in the UK, there are loads of old Leafs you can buy. The batteries where small to start with, and had no thermal management, but they are still usable. That what the article is saying, almost all ever made are still in use. Later EVs manage the battery, including it’s thermals, much better.
That is not tomorrows battery tech, or even today’s, it’s yesterday’s.
interesting, how old are your oldest leaves?
Makes a change from cd-rom drives back in the day…
EV batteries are huge, hard to repair, and expensive.
Hmm. Seems like one could make multiple smaller batteries.
It’s an array of cells either way, it just increases the build complexity in making it more modular and takes up more space to make it so, which leaves you with less battery.
If the issue producing the high repair costs is large batteries, though, one would get lower repair costs.
It’s not necessarily just that. It’s certification to work on them, and equipment costs too. The batteries are heavy, and removing them can be done by a layman but most won’t attempt it. Removing them safely and then working on the individual cell packs inside is costly. The average cost of a car diagnostic for labor is something like $200 an hour. Might be higher now. Add to that the cost of the batteries themselves and draining the cooling systems if they have them. Costs add up quickly.
It’s sorted of covered in the article. Partly batteries and new tech. Partly a lack of garages with the experience and knowledge to work on EVs
I would be tempted to say that with EV cars still being biased for the higher quality cars, and with Tesla still having a majority of the market, this should push the average cost of repair. Not sure when Tesla will fix their repair chain issues.
