Electric cars are constantly being talked about: in fact, apart from their daunting price and the difficulties associated with their autonomy and lack of charging stations, their beneficial impact on the environment is more criticized than ever. And this is not new information, passed on Reuterswhich will improve their image.

Indeed, insurance companies strive scrap electric cars, even in the case of a minor accident, because they have no way to assess the condition of the battery to judge its repairability. In addition, the cost of an electric car battery can sometimes reach 50% of its cost, i.e. several tens of thousands of euros, which very often implies its classification as an economically non-renewable car (VEI) by insurers.

Electric cars: the maintainability of batteries is in question

Indeed, some manufacturers, such as Tesla, install battery packs on their electric vehicles. hard-to-reach batteries : this is the case of the latest model Y, in which structural batteries are an integral part of the chassis.

In industry, this technology saves space and weight while reducing production costs. On the other hand, in the event of even a minor accident, it makes it impossible for specialists to work and repair, since the battery elements are embedded in the insulating material. For their part, Ford and General Motors advertise their batteries as being easier to repair.

In addition to the difficulty of physically accessing the battery to check its integrity, there is another problem: in fact, proprietary electronic systems do not allow car workshops and experts to access diagnostic data that allows them to know the condition of the cells. Therefore, insurance companies use precautionary principlewhich is to send the car directly to the scrapyard, rather than take the risk of returning a potentially dangerous vehicle to life and being the cause of a fire if one of its battery cells is damaged.

Electric cars: many models for recycling

While electric cars have been presented as a safe model for the environment, almost new damaged models and their batteries are now piling up in landfills, which at the same time leads to increase in insurance premiums for users.

According to Reuters, the electric cars that are most often scrapped in the US and Europe are Teslas, along with models from BMW, Renault, Nissan, Hyundai and Stellantis.

And since their number has tended to increase dramatically in recent years, the question of their recyclability now arises: indeed, even if they do not emit any polluting gases during circulation, the production of an electric car emits much more CO2. To achieve the famous “carbon neutrality”, you need to cover a significant number of kilometers behind the wheel of an electric car, so that your CO2 balance is profitable. Something difficult in practice if it is destroyed by the slightest minor incident at the beginning of its life!

Source: Reuters