Study: EV drivers more likely to be at fault in crashes

EVs don't just cost more to insure and repair, their drivers are more likely to cause accidents.

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posted on 8 months ago — updated on 1 second ago

EV drivers in Europe are more likely to be at fault in crashes than drivers of gasoline and diesel cars, according to a new study.

First spotted by Green Car Congress, the study was conducted by Irish research organization Lero and the University of Limerick. It used telematics data from 125 million commercial fleet vehicle trips with 14,642 vehicles in the Netherlands from January 2022 to October 2022. The trip data were compared to insurance-claim data from the same period.

Citroën Ë-Spacetourer

Based on those data sets, researchers found a 4% higher incidence of at-fault insurance claims for EV drivers compared to drivers of internal-combustion vehicles. That's despite EVs showing lower average mileage than gasoline or diesel vehicles, researchers noted.

Researchers also found that drivers' behavior changed when switching to an EV, which may have contributed to the number of at-fault incidents. There is indeed a bit of a learning curve for EVs, U.S. insurance data from LexisNexis have shown, both with one-pedal driving modes and instant torque that could make quicker EVs more accident-prone. Data released by the firm in June also showed a 17% higher claims frequency and 34% claim severity.

Citroën ë-C4

EVs are also 6.7% more expensive to repair than internal-combustion vehicles, the study found. That also lines up with results for the U.S. A report published earlier this year by Mitchell International, which provides tech to the insurance and collision repair industries, found that EV collision repairs cost 20% more than equivalent repairs to combustion vehicles.

More involved collision repair for even light EV damage is partly responsible for the higher costs, U.S. insurance data has shown, while higher EV weight can also cause more damage to other vehicles and inflate claim amounts in instances where the EV driver is at fault. That, along with high battery replacement costs, means EVs cost more to insure but still present a profitability issue for the insurance companies.

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