When an electric vehicle crashes, even in a minor accident, insurance companies junk the entire car because its battery has to be tossed
The corporate-controlled media is finally coming around to accepting the truth about the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, which is not even close to being as environmentally friendly as its supporters and promoters claim.
Reuters published a piece this week revealing that even the smallest EV accidents, including minor fender-benders, almost always result in insurance companies having to total the entire car. The reason for this has to do with EV batteries, which are so expensive to replace that it makes more sense to just replace the entire car.
“We’re buying electric cars for sustainability reasons,” said Matthew Avery, research director at the automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research. “An EV isn’t very sustainable if you’ve got to throw the battery away after a minor collision.”
The battery pack in your average Tesla, for example, costs tens of thousands of dollars to replace. The battery pack alone represents a sizable portion of the vehicle’s overall price tag, it turns out.
Tesla and many other EV manufacturers have made battery packs a structural component of their cars in order to reduce costs for end consumers – but at what cost to the environment? Unless EV manufacturers change the ways in which they incorporate battery packs into their cars, all this needless waste will continue to pile up.
“The number of cases is going to increase, so the handling of batteries is a crucial point,” said Christoph Lauterwasser, managing director of the Allianz Center for Technology, a research institute owned by Allianz.
Manufacturing EV batteries is costly, exploitative and damaging to the environment
According to Lauterwasser, producing EV batteries is anything but clean and green. Compared to conventional fossil fuel-powered models, EVs and the batteries they contain produce significantly higher carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. And when the batteries are discarded far too early due to an accident, the environmental cost is even greater.
“If you throw away the vehicle at an early stage, you’ve lost pretty much all advantage in terms of CO2 emissions,” Lauterwasser said.
As for the Tesla Model Y, Sandy Munro, head of Michigan-based Munro & Associates, says this particular model of Elon Musk’s fleet has “zero repairability.”
“A Tesla structural battery pack is going straight to the grinder,” said Munro, who analyzes vehicles and advises automakers on how to improve their functionality and repairability.
Then there is the social cost of mining up all the metals needed to make these too-easily disposable batteries. Children in Africa are forced to work like slaves for pennies a day to gather all the materials needed to make these “green” vehicles, adding insult to injury.
“So much for the EV revolution and the green ‘circular economy’ touted by carmakers, politicians, NGOs, and climate activists,” reported Zero Hedge about the matter. “These EVs appear even worse for the environment when compared with traditional petrol-powered vehicles.”
In the comments, someone stressed the fact that modern EVN junk is worse for the environment than 150-year-old combustion engine technology – imagine that.
“But don’t tell Greta,” this person further joked, referring to global warming activist Greta Thunberg who was caught trashing her Tesla EV with junk and fast food wrappers, cans, and other debris.
Another pointed out that all car insurance premiums now reflect this EV deception.
“You’re paying to scrap these new EVs,” this person said. “Changing the true rate to insure an EV would lead to further ‘EV hesitancy.'”
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TedMfftt 5 hours ago
Blanket statement much. Okay I just had my Leaf totaled. In reality the car came away pretty good and the battery is being resold to others who battery isn't holding as much charge. It also wasn't my first fender-bender, the others were minor and easily fixable. The author is full of it. I was able to salvage most of the main components from the EV as the front end was destroyed yet the motor and charger was still fine. The battery was completely unaffected by the accident being directly under the vehicleoccupants. The totaling is due to airbags deploying and the cost of rebuilding the bodywork. Functionally the car was mostly intact, though I clear lost wheel alignment on the side of impact. the frame was still straight and true. I know because I tore the whole thing apart. Maybe Teslas suck, but the Nissan was a champ. EVs are not universal, that is very much true. I would never own only an EV. But my Leaf was a phenomenal get around town car and fun to drive. It's cost of ownership was very low and even the high price of battery replacement is only equivalent to the cost of gas over the same time. For the 8 years I drove it I spent money on tires and wiper blades and that is about it. My battery still had at least half its life yet with 50K miles on it and 12 bars (out of 12) of charging capacity.
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