Claims frequency of repairable battery electric vehicles (BEVs) increased 2.71% in the United States in 2024, a year-over-year (YOY) increase of 38%, according to the most recent quarterly claims information from Mitchell's estimating data. Mitchell's latest "
"In addition to an uptick in the number of claims for repairable, collision-damaged BEVs, we also saw an uptick in the number of total losses last year," said
Repairable BEVs saw an average claims severity cost of about $6,236 in 2024, a YOY decrease of 3%, which is the highest average of the vehicle groups. The average claims severity of PHEVs was $5,583 and traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) saw an average of $5,066. Newer ICE vehicles had a higher average severity of $6,127, which Mitchell attributes to their complexity and cost to repair.
Total loss frequency increased in 2024 to just over 10%, up by two percentage points in 2023. The report shows that due to price changes from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), manufacturing costs and average vehicle age, BEV values are decreasing more so than other propulsion-type vehicles. The average total loss market value for BEVs was down 22% from 2023 at $33,346 in the U.S.
Mitchell's report also highlights that as the electrification of a vehicle increases, so does its system interconnectivity and complexity. This can lead to greater disruption of other components in a collision, which would require calibration after repair. BEVS had the highest per-estimate average for calibrations at 1.61. PHEVs had an average of 1.58, followed by MHEVs at 1.46 and lastly ICE vehicles at 1.45.
