Damaged electric cars are twice as likely as cars with internal combustion engines to be recognized as "totals"

The relative frequency of "totals", when the insurer recognizes the complete death of a vehicle, among electric cars turned out to be almost twice as high as that of cars with conventional internal combustion engines. Sergey Demidov, Vice President of Renaissance Insurance, told Izvestia about this on August 28.

"Electric vehicles have one feature: major damage is noticeably more likely to result in the complete death of the car when recovery becomes economically impractical. This has little effect on the overall picture so far, but the relative frequency of "totals" among electric cars is almost twice as high as that of cars with internal combustion engines. The very structure of insurance claims remains quite standard: road accidents, parking damage, theft, natural disasters and other risks," Demidov explained.

However, from the point of view of the frequency of insurance events, electric vehicles still cannot be called more risky than cars with internal combustion engines, the specialist pointed out. Thus, in 2025 and early 2026, the frequency of insurance claims in these two categories remained almost the same, with minimal differences within the statistical margin of error.

"At the same time, if we normalize the amount of the loss by the insured amount, there is also no significant difference. However, in absolute terms, the average loss on electric vehicles is almost twice as high, which is primarily due to the higher average cost of the cars themselves," the expert shared.

When choosing a hard hat, Demidov advised owners of electric vehicles to study not only the standard set of risks: first of all, you need to check whether the insurance covers the battery, including damage and spontaneous combustion, whether the standard charging equipment is included in the coverage and whether evacuation is provided when the battery is fully discharged. It is these conditions that most strongly distinguish a specialized helmet for electric vehicles from conventional programs and can be critical in the event of an insurance event, he said. According to the company, in the first half of 2026, the number of casco policies issued to Renaissance Insurance for electric vehicles and hybrids increased by 193% year-on—year, and the premium volume increased by 211%.

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On the same day, experts said that the average bill for the repair and maintenance of popular hybrid cars in the first seven months of 2026 increased by 9% and amounted to 8,447 rubles. For popular electric vehicles, it turned out to be 71% lower — 4,945 rubles, an increase of only 7% year-on-year.