Monday, October 23, 2023
Electric cars risk becoming uninsurable
Electric cars risk becoming effectively uninsurable as analysts struggle to put a price on battery repairs, the researcher for the car insurance industry has said.
Jonathan Hewett, chief executive of Thatcham Research, the motor insurers’ automotive research centre, said a lack of “insight and understanding” about the cost of repairing damaged electric car batteries was pushing up premiums and resulting in some providers declining to provide cover altogether.
Electric cars can be particularly expensive to repair, costing around a quarter more to fix on average than a petrol or diesel vehicle. Experts have previously warned electric vehicles are being written off after minor bumps because of the cost and complexity of fixing their batteries.
Mr Hewett said: “The challenge is that we have no way of understanding whether the battery has been compromised or damaged in any way.
“The threat of thermal runaway means that a catastrophic fire can take place if the cells of the battery have been damaged in a collision.
“What we’re struggling to understand at the moment is how we approach that diagnostic technique.
“It’s like a doctor trying to understand what’s wrong with you without any notes or an X-ray.”
John Lewis Financial Services stopped providing car insurance for electric cars last month for new and existing customers, as its underwriter Covéa analysed risks and costs.
Aviva removed insurance products for the Tesla Model Y earlier this year before restoring them several months later.
Vehicle repair costs rose 33pc over the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022, helping to push annual premiums to record highs, according to the Association of British Insurers.
Average electric car insurance costs rose 72pc in the year to September, compared to 29pc for petrol and diesel models, according to Confused.com.
Mr Hewett said premiums would eventually begin to level out and match those of petrol and diesel cars once actuaries had the tools needed to better understand the risks of insuring electric cars, saying the issue would likely be “short term”.
However, he added: “The battery is an extremely expensive component of an electric vehicle and until we find efficient ways of dealing with it we have the challenge of high premiums for electric vehicles, which nobody wants.”
Some customers are now being quoted over £100 a week to insure their electric vehicles, with others reporting premiums doubling or tripling compared to a year before.
One reason attributed to the steep rise in the cost of electric car repairs stems from recommendations for electric cars to be kept 50ft apart in repair yards over fears they might explode.
***************************************************
After $280 Billion Wipeout, Green Stocks Confront Soaring Debt Costs
There appears to be no end in sight for the multi-billion dollar rout in renewable energy stocks, as a surge in borrowing costs threatens to squeeze returns in the sector for years to come.
The industry received a fresh blow on Friday, after a sales warning from equipment provider SolarEdge Technologies Inc. sent shares in solar stocks across the US and Europe tumbling as much as 25%.
Until recently expected to displace oil-and-gas companies from mainstream investment portfolios, clean energy stocks have instead become a no-go zone for many. Investors have been pulling money out, wiping over $280 billion from the market capitalization of green stocks globally since their August 2022 peak — not quite boom-to-bust but a dramatic unraveling nonetheless for a market that was all the rage at the turn of the decade.
Now, with the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond creeping toward 5%, their fortunes could be about to take another hit. Higher yields make it costlier to fund the huge investment that clean energy requires, giving investors reason to fret about returns.
On top of that, the pace of decarbonization is in question and oil’s march back toward $100 a barrel is renewing interest in fossil fuels. Add all that up and it’s got investors asking if it’s worth waiting around for green energy stocks to pay off.
“If companies are rolling out capacity and raising debt, but power prices and profitability are falling, that’s not a combination markets like,” said Sharon Bentley-Hamlyn, a fund manager at Aubrey Capital Management. “Our exposure to the renewables sector is considerably lower than at this time last year.”
SolarEdge Technologies sank as much as 25% in US premarket trading on Friday after it warned its third-quarter revenue will come in below its previous guidance range. Other firms in the sector, including Enphase Energy Inc., Sunrun Inc., SMA Solar Technology AG and Meyer Burger Technology AG also tumbled.
Retail investors have also fled, with global clean energy equity ETFs seeing outflows amounting to over $1.1 billion in total since December 2022. They had attracted more than $15 billion in the previous three years.
**************************************************
Nearly half of households with non-Tesla electric vehicles (EVs) made an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle their next auto purchase, according to a new analysis.
It doesn’t necessarily mean they sold their EV, as it could also indicate they purchased an additional family vehicle that is gasoline powered.
S&P Global Mobility said its findings indicated that the fuel type loyalty rate for mainstream EV households was 52.1% through July of this year. That figure represents those who remained true to EVs after buying their initial one.
“Between Tesla picking off EV intenders, and the draw of internal combustion strengths such as towing and payload, legacy ICE automakers face a battle to increase EV loyalty as they transition,” S&P Mobility said. “Doubling down on EVs to expand their lineups might be the required path to ensure continued loyalty to brand and fuel type.”
Tom Libby, S&P Global Mobility’s associate director for loyalty solutions and industry analysis, said the results aren’t likely to be welcomed by automakers embracing the EV market.
“The OEMs are spending huge amounts of money to develop EVs,” Libby said. “The last thing they want is for an EV owner to go back to ICE.”
The report attributed the “loyalty struggle,” in part, to an overall decrease in consumer willingness to purchase an EV. S&P data indicates that overall consumer consideration for buying an EV has dropped to 52% from an 81% high in 2021.
“Pricing, infrastructure, and range were the top three reasons consumers listed for not purchasing an EV,” S&P Global Mobility said. “For some consumers, having a traditional ICE or hybrid vehicle is a way to hedge against some of these obstacles.”
Its analysis found that among non-luxury brand households surveyed, Nissan held onto the strongest EV loyalty, with 63.2% of owners sticking to that fuel type for their next purchase. It was followed by Chevrolet with 60.6%, although in neither case does it mean that the buyer remained loyal to the same OEM.
*************************************************
Greenpeace loses legal challenge to UK's new North Sea oil and gas licences
Britain's decision to authorise new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea was lawful, London's High Court ruled on Thursday, dismissing a legal challenge by Greenpeace.
The environmental campaign group had argued Britain's failure to assess the greenhouse gases produced by consuming oil and gas – so-called end-use or downstream emissions – rendered its offshore energy plan unlawful.
But lawyers representing Britain's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said at a hearing in July that ministers were not required to assess end-use emissions, though they nonetheless considered them.
Judge David Holgate rejected Greenpeace's case on Thursday, saying in a written ruling that the decision not to assess end-use emissions was not irrational.
"The industry is critical to strengthening our energy security – unlocking new technologies such as carbon capture and hydrogen opportunities – and will reduce our reliance on imports while supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs and growing the economy," they said in a statement.
Greenpeace said it planned to appeal the ruling.
Last year, Britain held its first oil and gas exploration licensing round since 2019, aiming to boost domestic hydrocarbon output as Europe weans itself off Russian fuel.
Britain says domestic oil and gas production is key to its plan to improve energy security and that doing so is consistent with its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
**********************************************
China Restricts Exports of Graphite, Key Mineral Used for Making EV Batteries
China's Ministry of Commerce on Friday curbed exports of graphite, a critical mineral used in the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).
The move could make a shortage of graphite more likely at a time when worldwide EV demand is soaring.
China last year accounted for close to two-thirds of global production of graphite and all but 2% of spherical graphite output, the final product used in anodes for lithium-ion batteries.
EV makers such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid Motors, as well as traditional automakers that have developed their own EVs in recent years, could be at risk of production shortages.
The move, attributed to national security concerns, comes just days after the U.S. imposed new restrictions on exports of high-tech semiconductor chips to Chinese companies and their overseas units, escalating a trade war that has been brewing since 2018.
A shortage of graphite could present problems for EV makers worldwide, particularly at a time when consumer demand for EVs is booming. In 2020, the World Bank forecast graphite demand could soar 500% over the next three decades as EVs and other clean energy technologies become more widely adopted.1
Counterpoint Research's Ivan Lamb said in an email that the latest export curbs are simply an extension of measures "that have already been in place." He mentioned that graphite export controls are a common practice enacted by governments around the world, a practice not limited to China.
The main concern, according to Lamb, is a spike in graphite prices.
"We believe that the average price of graphite will continue to rise in the future due to supply and demand imbalances, including Russia, which was once one of the major graphite suppliers before the Russia-Ukraine war," he said.
***************************************
My other blogs. Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM )
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
*****************************************
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Jim Hansen and his twin
No comments:
Post a Comment