EV drivers more more likely to be at fault in crashes

• A study found EV drivers cause more accidents than those of gas and diesel cars
• EVs cost more to insure and repair than gas and diesel vehicles
• Data shows EVs are still driven less on average than gas or diesel vehicles

EV drivers in Europe usually tend to be at fault in crashes than drivers of gasoline and diesel cars, in accordance with a brand new study.

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

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

Researchers also found that drivers’ behavior modified when switching to an EV, which could have contributed to the variety of at-fault incidents. There’s indeed a bit a of learning curve for EVs, U.S. insurance data from LexisNexis have shown, each with one-pedal driving modes and easy torque that might 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% costlier to repair than internal-combustion vehicles, the study found. That also lines up with results for the U.S. A report published earlier this 12 months by Mitchell International, which provides tech to the insurance and collision repair industries, found that EV collision repairs cost 20% greater than equivalent repairs to combustion vehicles.

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