(Much) Higher Cost to Repair EVs

Saving the planet is expensive (WSJ illustration)

When weighing the advantages and disadvantages of electric vehicles, one should include the much higher cost of their repair: [bold added]

For EVs, repairs following a collision can cost thousands of dollars more than their gas-powered counterparts, because the fixes tend to require more replacement parts, the vehicles are more complicated and fewer people do such repairs...

Last year, repairing an EV after a crash cost an average $6,587 compared with $4,215 for all vehicles, according to CCC Intelligent Solutions, a company that processes insurance claims for auto repairs in the U.S....

Higher repair costs are also helping to drive up insurance premiums for electric owners, who pay on average $357 a month for coverage compared with $248 for gas vehicle owners, according to insurance comparison website Insurify.

Here are more specifics about why EVs cost more to repair (and insure):

Part of that cost can be the greater work involved: over three mechanical labor hours on average for a repairable EV claim estimate, versus less than two for ICE vehicles, according to Mitchell data. Mechanics sometimes have to de-energize electric vehicles before removing their high-voltage batteries to avoid damaging them during repairs, Mitchell said...

One complication is the trend toward “gigacasting”—using smaller numbers of larger cast parts to make vehicles. Tesla has championed the technology, and others, including Toyota, are now following. But it could make cars even more expensive to repair. If lower production costs mean higher insurance costs, then drivers won’t actually save money.

Higher insurance and repair costs reinforce last year's decision not to be in a hurry to buy an electric vehicle.

We will first need to replace our 20-year-old roof and install a solar panel/battery storage system to defray the EV recharging cost, so at the earliest it's three years away.