The issue of electric vehicle (EV) battery pack disposal and repair after accidents is causing problems for insurers and the green “circular economy” promoted by car manufacturers. Repairing or assessing even slightly damaged battery packs is often not possible, meaning that low-mileage EVs are written off after collisions, leading to higher insurance premiums and batteries piling up in scrapyards. Battery packs can be expensive to replace and can represent up to 50% of an EV’s price tag. While some automakers have made battery packs easier to repair, Tesla has taken the opposite approach with its Model Y battery pack, which has been described as having “zero repairability”. The battery packs often contain undamaged cells, but without diagnostic data, insurers and scrapyards have to write off the vehicles. The lack of access to battery data is part of a wider fight over connected-car data between insurers, leasing companies, car repair shops and manufacturers.
According to Tony Cotto, director of auto and underwriting policy at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, consumer access to vehicle-generated data would enhance driver safety and policyholders’ satisfaction. Insurers want batteries to be made in smaller sections or modules that are simpler to fix and for manufacturers to provide third-party access to battery cell data. Failure to act will result in increased insurance premiums as the trend of low-mileage zero-emission cars being written off with minor damage grows alongside the increase in EV sales.
EV battery production emits more CO2 than fossil-fuel models. This means that in order to offset these extra emissions, EVs must be driven for thousands of miles. Throwing away vehicles with battery damage causes a loss of sustainability that car buyers have invested in. The UK has no EV battery recycling facilities, leading to cells being stored and not reused. As battery costs and insurance premiums increase, it is clear that EVs are not very sustainable if replacement batteries have to be thrown away after a minor collision.
