Drivers of electric vehicles are more likely to be at fault in road traffic crashes than drivers of petrol and diesel cars

Drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) are more likely to be involved in at-fault road traffic accidents than drivers of petrol and diesel cars, research by Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software, at University of Limerick and Universitat de Barcelona, reveals.

In the analysis of insurance claims and data from onboard sensors, due to be published in the November issue of the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, the Lero researchers reveal a number of key findings:

• Electric and hybrid drivers exhibit different behaviours than drivers of traditional vehicles.
• Electric vehicles record more at-fault claims than traditional vehicles.
• Electric vehicles are 6.7% more expensive to repair than traditional vehicles.

The research is authored by Kevin McDonnell, Dr Barry Sheehan, Professor Finbarr Murphy, all from Lero at University of Limerick, and Professor Montserrat Guillen of Universitat de Barcelona.

Lero researcher and co-director of the Centre of Emerging Risk Studies the Kemmy Business School, Dr Barry Sheehan, said EV drivers have a higher chance of experiencing an at-fault claim than drivers of cars with internal combustion engines (ICE).

“Our research finds that despite their lower average mileage than internal combustion engines, lower road exposure for EV drivers does not reduce their risk of experiencing an at-fault insurance claim. When analysing at-fault claims, we find a 4 % increase in crashes from EVs and a 6 % increase for hybrids (HYBs) compared to internal combustion engines.

“However, when tested with statistical models, hybrids do not display any further concerns of increased at-fault claim risk. These results indicate that EVs have a higher risk profile than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

“Our research shows drivers' driving behaviour changes significantly when switching to hybrids or EVs. These results mean EVs are more likely to experience an at-fault claim than internal combustion engines,” added Dr Sheehan, Associate Professor in Risk and Finance at UL.

Lero researcher and lead author Kevin McDonnell said their analysis of each fuel type shows that EVs and hybrids have lower average mileages than internal combustion engines.

“This suggests that internal combustion engines should have a higher probability of incurring an at-fault claim than alternate energy fuel-type vehicles. However, the claims data contradicts this assumption by providing evidence of increased at-fault claim occurrences in EVs through predictive modelling and risk analysis,” he added.

Lero’s Professor Finbarr Murphy, Executive Dean of the Kemmy Business School at UL and co-author said that, given the increased likelihood of incurring an at-fault insurance claim with less mileage, significant first-party damages, and battery costs, alternative energy vehicles are riskier and have a higher financial burden than petrol and diesel cars.

The study used telematic data from 125 million commercial fleet vehicle trips involving 14,642 vehicles recorded from January 2022 to October 2022 in the Netherlands. It also used an insurance claims dataset during the same period.

Lero Centre is based at University of Limerick, Ireland and funded by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland, formerly Science Foundation Ireland.