Scratched EV battery? Your insurer may have to junk the whole car

REUTERS ^ | March 20, 2023 | Nick Carey , Paul Lienert and Sarah Mcfarlane

[McGruff]

For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles - leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric.

And now those battery packs are piling up in scrapyards in some countries, a previously unreported and expensive gap in what was supposed to be a "circular economy."

"We're buying electric cars for sustainability reasons," said Matthew Avery, research director at automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research. "But an EV isn't very sustainable if you've got to throw the battery away after a minor collision."

Battery packs can cost tens of thousands of dollars and represent up to 50% of an EV's price tag, often making it uneconomical to replace them.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

LOL...I wonder if our neighbors below us would mind if we tied that little boat up to their dock with the gorgeous 1947 fully restored Chris Craft?

[dennisw]

Torch your Tesla for the insurance money. By now there must be people that you can hire, who specialize in this. To make it look as though the battery caught on fire without any help. With no evidence left behind that the fire didn’t occur naturally