By Peter Valdes-Dapena | CNN
Hertz recently announced it was selling 20,000 electric cars out of its fleet, and replacing them with gasoline vehicles. One reason the company gave was that drivers kept crashing the cars.
Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr noted that the costs of repairs of an electric vehicle are also much higher. And Hertz’s step back from EV sales indicate a broader problem for the EV industry. Researchers at LexisNexis Risk Solutions looking at insurance data have found that, evidently, rental car drivers aren’t the only ones having issues keeping EVs in one piece.
Scherr’s statements echoed findings by insurance analysts at LexisNexis who found that, when vehicle owners switch from gasoline-powered cars to electric cars, they tend to crash more. Drivers also tend to crash somewhat more when switching to gas-powered vehicles, too, but the increase is more pronounced with EVs. The frequency of insurance claims rises by about 14.3% while the severity of claims, or the amount that has to be paid out, increases by 14.5%, according to the data.
The increase in incidents is highest during the first year or so after drivers get the new electric vehicle, but then tapers off after that, according to LexisNexis, presumably as people get used to driving the new model. There is much less of a problem when a driver changes from a gasoline-powered vehicle to another gas-powered one, they found.
Mostly a Tesla thing
In both cases – with Hertz and with LexisNexis – “electric vehicles” largely means Teslas. Teslas accounted for 80% of Hertz’s EV fleet. Among privately owned electric vehicles, Teslas also make up the majority, given that they make up the majority of all new EVs sold in the US.
That suggests there may be something about Teslas that’s causing people to crash more than other cars. But LexisNexis researchers had previously noticed similar trends in China, where there are many more EVs – including more that aren’t Teslas.
In its…
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