(Washington Examiner) Experts are questioning how sustainable the push for vehicles going electric may be in light of it being nearly impossible to repair slightly damaged battery packs after accidents.
“We’re buying electric cars for sustainability reasons,” Matthew Avery with the automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research said. “But an EV isn’t very sustainable if you’ve got to throw the battery away after a minor collision.”
While Ford and General Motors have reportedly made their EV battery packs easier to repair, experts suggest that Tesla’s Model Y battery pack has “zero repairability.”
Because the cost to replace battery packs can be upward of tens of thousands of dollars, representing nearly half of the EV’s original price tag, insurance companies are being forced to scrap them, even those EVs with low mileage, and raise premiums.
“An insurance company is not going to take that risk because they’re facing a lawsuit later on if something happens with that vehicle and they did not total it,” Peter Gruber with Gruber Motor Company said.
Experts are warning the advantage of EVs lowering cars’ impact on the environment is at risk, a report noted.
