The siren blares and a voice counts down: three, two, one. A small white Dacia Spring trundles across the floor of a crash test lab near Newbury and bumps into a barrier at just 6mph. No torn metal or flying glass – but under the bonnet, the story is different.
Senior test engineer Sean Hoad points to the smashed high-voltage charging port. “This is all one big unit, meaning we can’t just replace the front charge port. We have to replace the charger itself, the inverter, and some of the cabling,” he says. Repairing all that would cost around £4,000, and with other damage, “it’s more than likely this car would be written off”.
“EVs cost 30% more to repair and 10-25% more to insure, threatening uptake despite surging sales.”
The test, carried out by Thatcham Research on behalf of the insurance industry, highlights why electric vehicles typically cost more to insure. On average, EVs cost 30% more to repair than petrol or diesel models, and take 14% longer to fix. That feeds through to premiums, which can be 10-25% higher depending on the make and model.
EV sales have surged, with almost one in three new cars sold in the UK in June, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Ian Plummer, chief customer officer of Autotrader, says demand is “driven by intensifying competition and rising consumer interest in plug-in cars”, but warns “the wider context remains fragile, with ongoing uncertainty around policy, incentives, and wider external pressures”.
Insurance cost is one of those niggling concerns that could put off would‑be buyers. Steve Fowler, co‑founder of Carblah, insists: “It’s absolutely crucial electric vehicles become cheaper to insure. They are expensive – though not as expensive as some people might think – but by making them easier to repair and cheaper to insure, more people will buy them.”