Electric Vehicle Fleet Insurance

On many fleet policies, yes: cables, connectors and adaptors designed for the vehicle, replaced like for like, sometimes with no excess. A policy may cover them only while they are in, on or connected to the vehicle or in a private garage. Where a policy does not mention electric vehicles, a cable is an accessory under the general terms.

Often, including a wallbox at an employee’s home where the business provides the vehicle. The usual condition is that it was fitted by an approved installer or a qualified electrician to recognised standards, and is used as the manufacturer recommends. Some policies cover the home charge point but exclude the one at business premises by name, so check both.

Yes, as part of the vehicle, and many insurers add damage from a power surge while charging through a proper connection. Wear, depreciation and gradual loss of capacity are not insured. A battery that has simply lost range is a matter for the manufacturer’s warranty, commonly eight years or 100,000 miles, not an insurance claim.

Where the battery belongs to a leasing or finance company, the insurer may pay that company rather than you, and may not pay to collect or deliver a battery it does not own. The settlement then follows the terms of the lease. The arrangement is worth declaring when you get quotes, because it decides who is paid.

With at least one insurer, on comprehensive cover: either enough charge to reach the nearest working public point, or transport of the vehicle. It is for the road, not the yard: the policy that offers it excludes running flat close to your premises or the driver’s home, and does not pay for the charge itself. Standard breakdown cover is for mechanical and electrical failure and may not treat a flat battery as either.

At least one insurer guarantees an electric replacement while yours is repaired; on other policies the courtesy car is not stated to be electric. For a fleet that charges at a depot and cannot fuel a petrol car on account, that difference is worth asking about before you buy.

Liability for injury or damage in connection with charging is stated on some fleet policies and left to the general liability section on others. A charge point in the yard is also a question for the property policy. A broker can confirm where liability while charging sits on the policy you are offered.

Thatcham Research, the UK motor insurance research body, reports that electric vehicle repairs cost more and take longer than the petrol and diesel equivalent. The battery is a large share of the vehicle’s value, a damaged one has to be isolated and checked before repair, and a damaged battery often turns a repair into a write-off. That is what an insurer prices.

Typically that the charge point was fitted by an approved installer and is maintained to the installer’s and manufacturer’s instructions, that the vehicle is charged in line with the manufacturer’s guidance, and that the cables are the ones designed for it. Insurer risk guidance also recommends regular visual checks of cables and chargers, with damaged equipment taken out of use.

Yes. A fully electric van up to 4.25 tonnes can be driven on a standard car licence, and these vans now take the ordinary class 7 MOT in Great Britain without a tachograph. Declare any van in that band when you get quotes, and check that out-of-charge recovery, where you add it, reaches that weight.

No. A fleet policy covers all the vehicles, and the electric cover applies to the vehicles it names while the rest run on the standard terms. Declare which vehicles are electric, whether each battery is owned or leased, and where each charges, so the cover attaches to the right vehicles. What a fleet policy does for any fuel is on our fleet insurance page.

Where a policy defines the vehicles its charging cover applies to, a plug-in hybrid may or may not fall inside it, so the definition is worth checking. A hybrid is declared as a hybrid; the fuel tank changes the risk.

Some policies apply no excess to cables and chargers; others apply a small one. The vehicle excess applies to the battery as part of the vehicle. Excess stacking across several vehicles in one incident is on our van fleet insurance page.

The vehicle list with values and whether each battery is owned or leased; where each vehicle charges and who installed the chargers; the drivers and any van above 3.5 tonnes; the use; three to five years of claims with any battery-involved loss noted; and which options you want. The business type starts the form; the charging set-up is what the broker turns into a submission.

Because no figure would be true for you. An electric fleet is priced on its vehicles, their use, the drivers, the claims record, the charging set-up and the options added, in combinations no average captures. If we publish data of our own one day, it will carry a sample size and a date.