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‘The quotes were £5,000 or more’: electric vehicle owners face soaring insurance costs
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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Why?
EV batteries are huge, hard to repair, and expensive. Along with EVs generally requiring specialist repair and everything being sealed up and proprietary.
Sealed and proprietary is a problem with anything, and I hate it, but I don't think the battery is normally the problem. They out last the rest of the car from what I'm seeing. There are people are using them for second life stuff.
from what ive been seeing on phones and other consumer electronics, batteries are the most disposable part on anything.
they generally have a shorter expected lifespan than any other component, not sure about cars but i would not bet on it outlasting many other parts
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/09/16/good-news-ev-batteries-last-longer-than-expected/
ill believe it when i see it, its the same lithium polymer tech as on other devices
Don't know where you are, but in the UK, there are loads of old Leafs you can buy. The batteries where small to start with, and had no thermal management, but they are still usable. That what the article is saying, almost all ever made are still in use. Later EVs manage the battery, including it's thermals, much better.
That is not tomorrows battery tech, or even today's, it's yesterday's.
interesting, how old are your oldest leaves?
No older than 2010, the year they were launched.
Good documentary from the time: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1413496
It's a huge change happening and it is not perfectly done and it is difficult and scares people, but it is also glorious.
Makes a change from cd-rom drives back in the day...
Hmm. Seems like one could make multiple smaller batteries.
It's an array of cells either way, it just increases the build complexity in making it more modular and takes up more space to make it so, which leaves you with less battery.
If the issue producing the high repair costs is large batteries, though, one would get lower repair costs.
It's not necessarily just that. It's certification to work on them, and equipment costs too. The batteries are heavy, and removing them can be done by a layman but most won't attempt it. Removing them safely and then working on the individual cell packs inside is costly. The average cost of a car diagnostic for labor is something like $200 an hour. Might be higher now. Add to that the cost of the batteries themselves and draining the cooling systems if they have them. Costs add up quickly.
It’s sorted of covered in the article. Partly batteries and new tech. Partly a lack of garages with the experience and knowledge to work on EVs
I would be tempted to say that with EV cars still being biased for the higher quality cars, and with Tesla still having a majority of the market, this should push the average cost of repair. Not sure when Tesla will fix their repair chain issues.