Electric Car Insurance

No. While you can choose to take out a dedicated electric vehicle insurance policy if you want, insurance providers like Admiral are working to normalise electric car ownership as much as possible.

Our standard car insurance caters to the needs of electric car owners, with features like out of charge recovery and battery cover. This means you don’t need to take out any kind of specialist car insurance.

We’ll consider a number of different factors to calculate the price you’ll pay for your electric car insurance. These include your age, occupation, claims history and type of vehicle, along with the cost and availability of spare parts for any repairs. Prices can vary a lot as a result.

Because electric vehicles cost more to buy and repair they do tend to be more expensive to insure than fuel powered models. We also consider if an accident is more likely because electric cars offer a different driving experience. Peak pulling power is available from a standstill, meaning they often offer surprising acceleration, all in relative silence.

However prices have come down a little as uptake increases and repairs have become more common.

Electric cars and vans (or EVs) are powered by electric motors which use rechargeable batteries, rather than petrol or diesel fuel. They can be charged with a charging cable plugged into a charging point at home, or at a public charging station. It may take between 30 minutes to 12 hours to reach full charge depending on a number of factors.

To reduce the cost of buying an electric car, some manufacturers (such as Renault and Nissan) offer the chance to buy the car and lease its battery separately.

The monthly lease amount is typically less than two full tanks of fuel – saving you no money on running costs but doing a fair bit for the environment.

You should notify us when taking out your policy if you're leasing the battery. If the car is written off, we need to make sure the payouts for the car and its battery go to their respective owners. If you own the battery, its value is combined with that of your car – this then makes up your car's market value.

If you're charging your car while it's parked in the street, there's the possibility that a member of the public might trip over your car's charging cable.

This opens you up to allegations of negligence and a personal injury claim.

Under Section 4 of your Admiral motor insurance policy ('Liability to other people'), so long as you've taken reasonable steps to prevent such an accident or injury from occurring, you're insured against this.

The cables would be covered if they were bought as part of the car. Aftermarket cables aren't covered unless they were a direct replacement from the manufacturer.

A hybrid car uses both a traditional petrol engine and an electric motor as power sources, whereas an electric car is fully powered by electrical sources.

The cost of fully charging an electric vehicle will depend on its battery size. Most people will charge their car at home and pay their energy supplier.

Some public charging stations are free but others may require payment, depending on the provider and the type of charger. Rapid charging points are usually more expensive than fast charging points.