Do Electric Cars Crash More Than Gas Powered Cars?
Join us out the car coach Lauren fix automotive industry analyst car coach reports.com and author Lauren fix’s guide to loving your car Lauren thanks for being with us it’s good to see you well thank you good to see you as well okay so according to analysts over at
Lexus Nexus who looked at all the insurance data in the first year when a driver switches from a petrol or this gasoline fuel car to an electric vehicle um the frequency of insurance claims Rises by about 14% while the severity of claims with the amount that has to be paid out increases by
14.5% so we’ll get to some of the reasons there in a moment but how reliable is this analysis because there is at least anecdotal evidence from Herz which kind of supports these findings right right it is true uh I think the insurance rates are the biggest thing
That people see every day whether you’re a good driver or you’re a driver that doesn’t pay attention but the cost replacement parts is really expensive and of course the cost of Labor is higher so all of these are really solid numbers and and in the us when we are
Talking about electric vehicles we’re essentially talking Tesla simply because they’re dominant of the EV market and I want to show you what happens to a Tesla Model X during a crash test there it is uh what is notable in this is that because of Tesla’s battery being so
Heavy uh when a Tesla hits something one of the reasons here for this increased payout of claims and you know the the extra cost of claims when they hit something a Tesla causes a lot more damage than a Gasol lead power vehicle right absolutely it’s a heavier vehicle
So you just got Forward Motion in this case but also think about the fact that if you’re a repair shop and you’re repairing a gasoline powered car or a hybrid you replace the components as we’ve always done that we know it’s expensive we try to replace them with
Factory Parts when you’re talking about a battery you have to replace the whole battery cell assembly and a lot of times and this would make the situation even worse if one battery cell overheats and potentially get catches fire there’ll be a chemical reaction it’ll take the whole
Vehicle out it’ll be a total loss so car manufacturers are aware of this but the insurance manufacturers are very concerned and so are the reinsurance companies they insure the insurance companies they know it’s going to be higher so they’re charging higher rates for the possible of a total wow okay and
And some of the reasons for the increase in accidents and the increase in claims include acceleration uh the Tesla Model 3 for example the longrange one uh goes 0 to 60 in four in 4. what one second just over four seconds that compares to
A BMW 330i uh 0 to 60 in 5.6 seconds um there’s also the fact the EVS don’t have the sound of a combustion engine which you many drivers you know we’re used to that as an indicator of a speed so you are these issues similar to what Toyota
Experienced with Prius you’re adding an engine noise because of a jump of the number of pedestrians being hit or are there bigger issues at stake here well I think there’s a lot of issues at stake when when you drive a car if you’ve been trained to drive any vehicle you’re used
To using your vision your the feeling the sound but there’s no sound when there’s no sound you don’t have an expectation of acceleration it’s sort of like using a video game people don’t have that engagement and so when that’s missing you have no Crescendo of noise
And the noise gets louder and so I think the consumers miss that especially if you’re used to driving a gasoline powered vehicle and that is quick acceleration I mean unless you’ve got a lot of experience like I raise cars a little different I’m used to that but
Someone who’s not used to that quick acceleration could find themselves in an accident very easily at a traffic light and not even realize it till they’ve already hit something so these are all factors to be considered I mean I think just overall it’s a matter of learning
These cars and that would be something that you could overcome over time if you’re just paying attention I’m just woring about that issue though are these issues big enough for example to to require maybe you know an extra level of training extra certification for people to actually you know get behind the
Wheel of an electric vehicle be it a Tesla or whatever and learn about these things before they hit the open road well I I would say the driver Z does not teach people much like they did when we learned how to drive now they teach you there’s three fluids and that’s it and
Go drive it if there’s a problem let us know call Triple A because they’re the ones doing a lot of the classes so it’s really important to note that you if you have a new driver in your house or you’re new at this try playing with it
In a parking lot where there’s no telephone pools like you would when we learned how to drive on snow go out there get used to it get comfortable with it so you understand the acceleration and the braking you should be doing that anyhow and that’s just a matter of learning like anything else
And for new drivers have them take the time to learn it because that can be real expensive on your insurance if a young driver is in an accident it’s definitely going to elevate the price of your insurance on a monthly basis and just overall for Tesla not exactly the
Best kind of news for Tesla which has had its own you know history of safety issues in the past to add this onto you know what the company’s already experienced it’s not a good look is it well I I think that Tesla has led the
Market by a long shot 63% I I’m not the biggest fan of their build quality but they have a huge amount of fans and you say anything negative all their fans come in attack they really love their cars and that’s great but note that he
Has lost quite a bit of market share in other countries such as China where byd has outsold them for the first time so I think you’re going to start seeing them maybe reduce some of their footprint and increase in other brands but Tesla literally is the leader in this market
And they’ve blazed the trail everyone is following and although they’ve had a lot of issues along the way they seem to always get around them I’m not sure how that happens but it just seems to be that Elon Musk is made of Teflon the Teflon Tesla Lauren thanks so much for
Being with us hope to see you again see you again soon all right thank you so much
Wondering if electric cars are more accident-prone? Join automotive industry analyst Lauren Fix in this thought-provoking video, on CNN, as she delves into the insurance data and claims related to electric vehicles. Uncover the reasons behind the rise in accidents and the higher insurance rates for EVs. Watch the crash test of a Tesla and understand the impact of the battery’s weight on collision damage. Get a comprehensive overview of the challenges faced by the automotive industry and insurance companies.
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