Electric vehicles faced a shortage of repairmen and technicians when they first entered the market; therefore, they imposed much higher service and repair costs on the owner. However, new reports indicate that with the increase in the production and supply of these types of vehicles on the one hand and the expansion of after-sales services on the other, the large difference in the repair costs of electric models with gasoline models is constantly decreasing.
15 to 20 percent difference
According to the report of the German Insurance Association (GDV), last year, insurance losses for electric vehicles were about 20 to 25 percent higher than for similar internal combustion vehicles. The new report of this institution shows that this figure has decreased to about 15 to 20 percent. The senior vice president of GDV said in this regard:
“As the number of electric vehicles on the road increases, the difference in repair costs between them and internal combustion vehicles will decrease. Because as the variety of models expands and the number of customers increases, repair shops, towing companies, firefighters and insurance experts gain more experience in dealing with damaged electric cars.”
Electric cars; the normalization of a new technology
According to the report, the widespread development of electric cars and the increasing experience of service centers have caused the trend of reducing costs to continue at an accelerated pace. The German Insurance Association emphasizes that electric cars are rapidly becoming the “new norm” of the automotive industry. It should be noted that the reference for the study and the data of this association were from 2021 to 2023. Since the number of electric cars is now much greater on the streets and roads, the difference in repair costs is naturally less than the aforementioned figures.
It should be noted that, according to statistics from the German Insurance Association, about 1.65 million electric cars were registered in Germany at the beginning of this year. This figure has increased by about 5 times compared to 2021, and electric vehicles now account for about 3.3% of the total German vehicle fleet.
