Electric vehicles and connected vehicles – are they “smart” vehicles?
In the words of Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, ‘Two out of three ain’t bad….’
I don’t know if you saw the recent BIBA announcement on an EV scheme with Novo Insurance. ‘…the scheme boasts a range of unique features, including like-for-like replacement mobility in the event of a claim and access to a UK wide EV repair network.’ Ok.
High premiums for Electric Vehicle owners
The contribution from esteemed Novo MD James Allenby also promises innovation through ‘competitive rates, unique covers and customer satisfaction’ in an ‘underrepresented’ market.
In a previous article I quoted the confused.com data on very high premiums for EV drivers. The data suggested that the size of the installed base, the newness of the immediate acceleration, early braking and quietness are additional factors. Concluding that more accidents means more claims means higher premiums.
Electric Vehicle and Connected Vehicle data
But what if there was technology to 1) accelerate understanding of drivers and their driving in this segment and 2) inform coaching on safer driving? Could that add pre-incident prevention to the post-claim efforts? A few simple facts:
- Telematics devices and data (and now Connected Vehicle data) have been enabling driver understanding and coaching for decades
- According to Plug-and-Drive, 85%+ of EVs are connected
- REDTAIL ingests OEM data and converts to actionable, valuable data for insurers. Insight if you will.
Electric vehicle replacement and repairs
BIBA/Novo combine on replacement vehicle and repair networks. Will this be enough to help OEMs / insurers hit the government targets for EV adoption?
My honest answer is I do not know. But, given the compelling eco arguments and the necessary momentum in the EV direction, why not load the dice? Of course, permissions and tech and testing and marketing must be deployed.
However, there is a unique opportunity here – intelligent vehicles offering smart data to do better business for all – OEMs, insurers, consumers and the planet.
