Yahoo Autos EV Collision Repairs Aren't Much Worse than ICE Cars, With One Exception
Electric vehicles have a reputation for being far more costly to repair after an accident, but that reputation may be based on one Silicon Valley EV giant. The average repair cost for a non-Tesla EV is just $269 higher than the industry average, according to collision repair software company Mitchell. But if your Tesla gets in a crash, it'll cost $1347 more than average to repair, as Automotive News notes in its story on the report.
For EVs in general, Mitchell suggests that some of the added cost comes from the additional labor required to isolate the battery pack. Ryan Mandell, one of the firm's claims directors, told AN that most jobs require the technician to disconnect the pack, and paintwork often requires shops to remove the pack altogether. Actual damage to the pack that necessitates replacement is rare, and he notes that repairability of the packs should improve as EV tech matures.
Teslas have those costs, plus a lot of electronics mounted within harms way. Mitchell—which gathers data through its collision-repair management software—suggests that a lot of the added cost is sensor replacement and recalibration.
But two of the biggest factors skewing the numbers have little to do with EV technology. The first is that EVs are far newer. The second is that EVs tend to be more expensive in the first place. Teslas are sold as luxury cars, so it's no wonder they have higher-than-average repair bills.
The good news, though, is that the gaps are closing. Shops are getting better at repairing EVs while manufacturers get better at building repairable EVs.
"As new vehicles come into the marketplace and are getting repaired in real life, you start to run into real challenges," Mandell told Automotive News. "As those challenges are addressed and brought to the manufacturer's attention, you'll start to see changes in engineering based on that real-world feedback."
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