Electric cars risk becoming uninsurable

Telegraph ^ | 10/20/23 | Mattie Brignal

[alternatives?]

“The feds will step in and force insurance companies to cover EVs. That will raise premiums on everyone but they don’t care.”

The correct answer at number three. Just another hidden subsidy for electric vehicles. But hey, the EV crowd can feel good about “saving” the world.

[genghis]

Good guess

[adorno]

If you lease the car, you don't own the battery. If you buy the car you do.

Like I said, have the manufacturers continue to own the batteries and have them leased or rented to the vehicle owners. The batteries are the 'fuel' and people don't have to own the fuel. When you lease the car, you don't own the battery or the vehicle. But, the battery is the issue here, and the issue belongs with the manufacturer. It's like when you purchase a home but don't really own it until the mortgage is paid off. You have a right to use the EV you pay for, but not the battery that can't be insured. Let the government force ownership and insurance on the manufacturers if the government is going to insist on converting everybody to EVs.

[Eccl 10:2]

Yep. My son is in Virginia.

Thanks for the info. Good to know

[Keyhopper]

I’ve been in my house 35 years never had a claim. They said my roof was old, so I got a new roof, they cancelled me anyway.
Paid off the house, POOF no more insurance.
Then they called and could get me a new policy at almost triple what I was paying.
Sorry, no thanks

[Elsie]

You pay for all the glasses your monkey breaks.

[reviled downesdad]

I was amazed when I saw an ev car battery opened up. Hundreds of 18650 cells in series and parallel with an aluminum cooling jacket wrapped around each row.

Given that a cylindrical batteries’container provides a level of safety prismatic pouch batteries do not, and with all the engineered cooling, it is significant the ev batteries still pose a higher than normal fire risk.

Tells me the engineers are trying ever so hard to fit a square peg into a round hole but it just will not fit.

[matt04]

Sounds like they realizing even minor battery damage, or possible damage, is essentially a write off.

[GOPJ]

Liability insurance is really cheap - a few hundred bucks a year - get that so if someone falls on your property or some such thing - you don’t get sued for everything you have.

Other than that you’re playing the same odds the insurance companies are playing. And they makes lots of money. Takes courage Keyhopper. Good for you and good luck.

[fireman15]

EV batteries should have been designed so individual small modules could be replaced at reasonable cost as they fail, rather than the entire battery all at once.

Many damaged EV batteries can be repaired, because most are made from hundreds or thousands of small cells, and sometimes when just a few have gone bad they can be located and replaced. But doing this type of work can be dangerous and takes specialized equipment. And as you have pointed out, they are not designed for easy repair.

The problem is that if the cells in the battery are allowed to go below a certain voltage they are irreparably damaged and the type of negligence that causes this type of failure likely will cause many cells to be damaged... not just a few.

[Sequoyah101]

At any one time about 1/3 of all oklahoma drivers are uninsured. I’d bet it is the same all over. Here they get insurance long enough to tag the car
Been wondering when the EVs would not be insurable.

[GOPJ]

Your friends are brave.

I’m 10 feet above sea level and my back yard ends at a small salt water canoe stream. I’m keeping flood insurance too. Also one of the reason I’m a fan of yours - always comforting knowing you’re keeping track of storms for the rest of us.

[dinodino]

I can confirm that insurance for a Tesla is significantly more than for regular cars..has been that way for awhile.

[OSHA]

What pisses me off is you can't pass a yearly state inspection in Texas without proof of insurance. So, either those individuals are forging proof of insurance, getting auto insurance for a short window of time required for the inspection before requesting a refund, or they aren't having their vehicles inspected.

It's easy. Go to insurers like "The General" make a low down payment, print out the proof and never make another payment.

[EVO X]

I don’t view an EV any differently than an ICE car. Buyer beware. If insurance rates become too high, people will quit buying the cars. That will force EV makers to come up with a better battery product or go out of business...

[Elsie]

Many damaged EV batteries can be repaired...

Just like most everythng can...

[cgbg]

“they aren’t having their vehicles inspected”.

This.

Watch “On Patrol Live” traffic stops.

The usual suspects have no valid driver’s license, no valid vehicle registration and of course no insurance.

Needless to say there was no vehicle inspection in states that require them.

“Well, officer I was going to get all that taken care of—and I will do it next week, promise.”

;-)

[MortMan]

where are we to warehouse all the old ones?

Fire pit?

[Mouton]

My favorite west Colorado town is Rifle.

[Mouton]

Love that show. I notice the usual suspects are spotlighted quite a bit. But not just them without insurance or licenses. This country is in a race to the bottom and to help out we are importing outside contractors! It aggravates me to no end when the show has a copper having to use a language interpreter to ask if some driver has a DL.