Scratching an EV battery?Why your favorite electric car is turning into trash

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“We’re buying electric vehicles for sustainability reasons,” said Matthew Avery, research director at Thatcham Research, an auto risk intelligence firm. “But electric cars are not very sustainable if you have to throw away the battery after a minor crash.”

Battery packs can cost tens of thousands of dollars and account for 50 percent of an electric vehicle’s price, and it’s often not cost-effective to replace them.

While some automakers, such as Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., say they have made battery packs easier to repair, Tesla Inc. has taken the opposite tack, launching its Texas-built Model Y with The new structural battery pack is described by experts as having “zero repairability.”

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

A Reuters search of EV recycling sales in the U.S. and Europe showed mostly low-mileage Teslas, but also models from Nissan, Hyundai, Stellantis, BMW, Renault and others.

Electric vehicles make up only a small fraction of vehicles on the road, so industry-wide figures are hard to come by, but there is a growing trend of low-mileage zero-emission vehicles being scrapped for minor damage. Tesla’s decision to make the battery pack a “structural” battery pack — part of the car’s body — has allowed it to cut production costs, but also risks pushing those costs back to consumers and insurers.

Tesla did not mention any issues with insurers writing off its vehicles. But in January, CEO Elon Musk said third-party insurance premiums were “unreasonably high in some cases.”

Unless Tesla and other automakers produce battery packs that are easier to repair and provide third-party access to battery data, sales of electric vehicles grow and more low-mileage vehicles fail after crashes, insurers and industry experts say. Scrap, and already high insurance premiums will continue to rise.

“The number of cases will increase, so the handling of batteries is a key point,” said Christoph Lauterwasser, managing director of the Allianz Technology Center, Allianz’s research arm.

Lauterwasser pointed out that electric vehicle battery production emits far more carbon dioxide than fossil fuel models, which means that electric vehicles must be driven thousands of miles to offset these additional emissions.

“If you throw the vehicle away at an early stage, you lose almost all of the CO2 advantage,” he said.

Most automakers say their battery packs are repairable, but few seem willing to share battery data. Insurers, leasing companies and car repair shops are already vying with automakers in the EU for lucrative connected car data.

Access to EV battery data is part of the fight, Lauterwasser said. Allianz has seen scratched battery packs in which the cells may not have been damaged, but it had to write off the vehicles because it had no diagnostic data.

Ford and GM tout their newer, more serviceable battery packs. But in the Model Y built at Tesla’s Austin, Texas factory, the new large 4680 cells are glued into a battery pack that forms part of the car’s structure and cannot be easily removed or replaced, experts said.

In January, Tesla’s Musk said the automaker has been making design and software changes to its vehicles to reduce repair costs and insurance premiums.

The company also offers its own insurance products at lower prices to Tesla owners in more than a dozen U.S. states.

Insurance companies and industry experts also point out that EVs have so far been involved in fewer accidents than conventional cars because they are equipped with all the latest safety features.

directly on the grinder

The Model Y battery pack has “zero repairability,” said Sandy Munro, principal of Michigan-based Munro & Associates, which disassembles the vehicle and advises the automaker on how to improve it. .

“The Tesla Structure battery pack goes directly into the grinder,” Munro said.

The EV battery issue has also exposed holes in the green “circular economy” touted by automakers.

At Synetiq, the UK’s largest salvage company, head of operations Michael Hill said the number of electric vehicles in quarantine at the company’s Doncaster shipyard had skyrocketed in the past 12 months – and had to be inspected to avoid fire risks – Possibly from a dozen every three days to 20 a day.

“We’re seeing a really big shift that’s happening across all manufacturers,” Hill said.

There are currently no EV battery recycling facilities in the UK, so Synetiq has to remove batteries from end-of-life cars and store them in containers. Hill estimates that at least 95% of Synetiq’s hundreds of EV battery packs and thousands of hybrid battery packs stored in Doncaster are undamaged and should be reusable.

Most EVs already cost more to insure than conventional cars.

According to online brokerage Policygenius, the average monthly electric car insurance cost in the U.S. in 2023 will be $206, 27% more than an internal combustion engine model.

According to Bankrate, an online publisher of financial content, U.S. insurers know that “even a minor accident can damage a battery pack … The cost of replacing this critical component can exceed $15,000.”

Replacement batteries in a Tesla Model 3 can cost up to $20,000, and the car retails for about $43,000 but depreciates quickly over time.

Andy Keane, UK commercial vehicle product manager at French insurer AXA, said expensive battery replacements “may sometimes make it unfeasible”.

A growing number of repair shops specialize in servicing electric vehicles and replacing batteries. In Phoenix, Arizona, Gruber Motors is primarily focused on replacing batteries in older Tesla models.

But insurers don’t have access to Tesla’s battery data, so they’re taking a cautious approach, owner Peter Gruber said.

“Insurers won’t take that risk because if something happens to that car and they don’t settle the bill, they’ll face lawsuits later,” he said.

Pain points

The UK government is funding research into electric car insurance “pain points” led by Thatcham, Synetiq and insurer LV=.

The recently adopted EU battery regulations do not specifically target battery repairs, but they do ask the European Commission to encourage standards to “facilitate maintenance, repair and reuse”, a commission source said.

Insurers say they know how to fix the problem — breaking batteries into smaller sections, or modules, that are easier to fix and opening up diagnostic data to third parties to determine the health of the cells.

Individual U.S. insurers declined to comment.

But Tony Cotto, director of auto and underwriting policy for the Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, said, “Consumer access to data generated by vehicles will further improve driver safety and policyholder satisfaction … by facilitating the entire repair process. “

In mid-March, the lack of access to critical diagnostic data was raised in a class action lawsuit filed against Tesla in U.S. District Court in California.

Insurers say inaction will cost consumers.

EV battery damage accounts for only a few percent of Allianz car insurance claims, but 8 percent of claim costs in Germany, Lauterwasser said. Insurance companies in Germany compile vehicle claims data and adjust premium rates annually.

“If a certain model costs more, it raises premium levels because ratings go up,” Lauterwasser said.

First published date: March 20, 2023 at 11:16 AM CST

https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/electric-vehicles/scratched-ev-battery-why-your-favourite-electric-car-could-become-junk-41679291015124.html

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