Charge Up Headlines
✅EV repair costs: down 6% year-on-year
✅New entrants: BYD achieves 212% growth year-on-year
✅Parts v labour: Tesla & MG buck trend on labour costs
Introduction
The latest quarterly analysis from Activate Group, the accident management specialist, and Gecko Risk’s powerful EV data platform.
This edition focuses on key developments in 2024, highlighting the growth in EV registrations, evolving trends in repair costs, and the impact of new entrants on the market.
Electric Vehicle Market
In 2024, more than 400,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were registered on UK roads, an increase of 50,000 on 2023.
Tesla maintained its position as the most popular EV manufacturer, with over 50,000 new vehicle registrations. The most popular EV model of 2024 was the Tesla Model Y, with 32,862 vehicles registered.
A number of Chinese manufacturers have entered the market in the past two years, the most notable being BYD, with 8,232 registrations in 2024, up 212% year on year.
James Fisher, CEO, Gecko Risk said: “We expect to see further growth in new registrations for BYD and other Chinese manufacturers throughout 2025, with both fleets and personal lines drivers attracted by the relatively low prices. In contrast to new BEV manufacturers entering the market in the past, early signs are that BYD could prove to be an attractive manufacturer for insurers.
“The average repair cost for BYD BEVs in 2024 was £2,392, more than 30% lower than the average repair costs for all other BEVs. Similarly to Tesla and MG, labour costs exceed that of parts costs, which is a significant point of difference when compared to European legacy manufacturers.”
EV repair cost trends
The first quarter of 2024 witnessed a sharp decrease in average EV repair costs, reaching their lowest point in May. However, the latter half of the year saw a steady increase, culminating in an average cost of £3,482 by December.
Year-on-year, average repair costs have dropped from their 2023 peak, returning to 2022 levels.
Adrian Furness, Managing Director of Activate Group’s insurance division, noted: “Competition for repair capacity has been gradually reducing since 2022 thanks to a fall in repair volumes, coupled with increased investment in new bodyshops. At the same time, there has been a strong commitment to investing in EV capability across the repair industry. Together, these factors have led to reduced repair costs for EV repairs.”
Manufacturer-specific analysis shows consistent repair costs among the four most popular EV marques. Average repair costs for MG remained significantly more affordable at £2,300.
Interestingly, an early look at average repair costs for BYD (based on 170+ repairs) shows that they are very much in line with MG, at £2,400 for 2024.
Repair cost breakdown
A closer look at average repair costs reveals strong consistency across the past three years. Parts cost fell slightly (-7%) year on year in 2024, while paint costs rose by 10%.
The repair cost breakdown varied significantly by EV manufacturer. While parts made up the lion’s share of repair costs for BMW, Audi and Mercedes, labour was the highest cost for MG and Tesla.
Mark Hobson, Operations Manager at Activate Parts commented: “There are many factors driving the trend for lower parts costs, from repair over replace methodology to the use of aftermarket and green parts. As electric vehicles become more popular, leading manufacturers are also producing parts in higher quantities, driving down costs thanks to economies of scale.
“Additionally, the growing popularity of affordable EV models, such as those from MG and BYD, may affect the average parts cost as a result of significantly cheaper parts compared to premium brands.”
Conclusion
The UK electric vehicle market exhibited robust growth in 2024, driven by increasing consumer confidence and the looming deadline of the ZEV mandate.
While the most popular EV manufacturers remained relatively consistent throughout the year, new entrants are beginning to gain traction, while some more well-known manufacturers struggle to make the transition to EV.
Average repair costs fell overall, with a significant drop at the beginning of the year offset slightly by gradual increases later on. This trend is broadly in line with the overall repair market, impacted by lower competition for repair capacity, and supported by strong investment in EV repair capability across the industry.
About Activate Group
Activate Group and its subsidiaries provide end-to-end accident management solutions to insurers, fleet providers, TPAs and brokers. The group provides claims management to corporate and commercial fleets through sopp+sopp, operates an approved nationwide repair network for personal lines insurance claims through Motor Repair Network, supplies next-day parts and consumables through Activate Parts and also runs its own body shop division, Activate Accident Repair. Based in the UK, Activate Group employs more than 800 people.