The Rising Trend of BEV Collision Claims and Cost Comparisons in North America

TapTechNews August 26th news, although the sales growth of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) has slowed down recently, the number of collision claims involving BEVs is still continuously rising in North America. And compared to traditional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) powered vehicles, repairing pure electric vehicles usually costs more.

According to the latest research by Mitchell, the number of claims for repairable collision-damaged BEVs in the US and Canada increased by 2.5% and 3.95% respectively in the second quarter of 2024. The report shows that in the second quarter of 2024, the average claim price for repairable BEVs in the US was $5753, and in Canada it was CAD 6534. In contrast, the average claim price for ICE-powered vehicles was $4806 in the US and CAD 4958 in Canada. This means that repairing a collision-damaged pure electric vehicle in the US is 20% more expensive, and in Canada it is 31% more expensive than a similar-sized internal combustion engine vehicle.

In terms of brands and models, Tesla Model 3 and Model Y are the models with the highest BEV claim frequency in both the US and Canada, accounting for more than half of all cases. Considering the large number of them on the road, this is also expected.

The claim frequency of hybrid vehicles has also increased. Mild hybrid vehicles are technically similar to ICE-powered vehicles, and their repair costs are also considerable in the US. However, the situation for more complex plug-in hybrid vehicles is different, and the repair cost after a collision is 12.5% higher than that of ICE vehicles.

TapTechNews noticed that the scrapping frequencies of new fuel vehicles and pure electric vehicles are very close, which are 9.45% and 9.16% respectively. This is due to the increasing complexity of modern vehicles, making repairs increasingly difficult and expensive.

Another interesting fact is that compared to their ICE-powered counterparts, pure electric vehicles are less likely to require frame repairs (8.18% vs. 5.21%). This indicates that the structural integrity of electric vehicles may be higher than that of ICE vehicles, but more data is needed to confirm this point.