EV owners face $3,159 insurance shock, study finds

New data from Insurify estimates EVs cost about $3,159 per year to insure—nearly $1,000 more than gas-powered cars. The report finds the insurance gap swings widely by state and model, with Washington, D.C., and Rhode Island standing out for sharp differences,

For years, the pitch for electric vehicles has been simple: fewer moving parts, cheaper energy, and less money spent on the routine wear-and-tear of a gasoline engine. But the bill many drivers feel first—insurance—doesn’t follow that script.

The latest data from Insurify estimates that electric vehicles typically cost $3,159 per year to insure, nearly $1,000 more than gas-powered cars. Insurify’s report suggests this added burden could stretch the payback period for EVs. especially as insurance costs factor into what it takes for savings at the pump—or lower maintenance—to catch up.

On average, the insurance gap between electric and internal combustion engine, or ICE, vehicles was 42 percent, according to a report released today by the insurance-comparison marketplace Insurify. But the gap isn’t uniform. It varies drastically by state and model.

In Washington, D.C., coverage cost $6,394 for EVs versus $4,124 for ICE cars. Maine came in as the cheapest, at $1,476 for EV coverage—just $184 more than a conventional car. The spread was most pronounced in Rhode Island, where it has a 73 percent difference.

There’s also a pattern tied to branding and positioning. Generally speaking, luxury brands like Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi are particularly expensive to insure, with premiums on many models topping $4,000. Volvo, Chevrolet, Ford, and Hyundai tend to sit lower in the pricing range. Insurify wouldn’t disclose which insurers had the most expensive rates. but it did say Lemonade. Root. and GEICO offered the most affordable EV coverage.

Insurers, Insurify says, are charging higher premiums to balance risk. “Insurers were charging those higher premiums to balance their risks. ” said Julia Taliesin. an economic analyst and insurance agent at Insurify. who wrote the report. The report is based on more than 235 million quotes in Insurify’s proprietary database.

The analysis also leaves out seven states—Alaska. Hawai‘i. North Dakota. New Hampshire. South Dakota. Vermont. and Wyoming—because of lower quoting volume. Even with those gaps. Insurify’s conclusion is blunt: higher insurance expenses means it can take more driving before an EV pays for itself through lower fuel and operating costs.

The report’s math is stark. Even if electricity were free and gas stays at $4 per gallon, it translates to at least 5,800 more miles a year compared to a car that gets 25 mpg.

One reason appears straightforward to the repair world: it costs more to fix an EV.

“We do see that there is a delta in the cost of repair for electric vehicles compared to ICE. ” said Ryan Mandell. a vice president of strategy and market intelligence at Mitchell. a company which provides data and software related to car repairs. He pegs the difference at about 15 percent. pointing to several technical realities—batteries being relatively expensive to fix and difficult for mechanics to work around. and EVs having complicated electronics. But he also points to something more basic: “there are more fundamental factors as well. like the lack of an engine.”.

Mandell offered the Ford F-150 as an example. From 2022 to 2025, an electric version of the pickup truck called the Lightning was available alongside gas-only and hybrid versions. When Mitchell subjected the gasoline and EV models to a front-end crash test. the engine in the traditional model absorbed quite a bit of the impact. Because it doesn’t have that additional structure. Ford designed the Lightning with additional reinforcement that cost around 30 percent more to fix.

“The Lightning had more crash parts on the front of the vehicle,” Mandell said. He also noted that Ford requires removing the battery before doing any work, which increases labor costs. “It adds up.”

Still, repair cost isn’t the only lever insurers pull. Insurify’s data showed insurance rates for the two trucks are roughly the same. and Taliesin said that points to other drivers. including demographics and behavior. “One of the most significant is personal driving history and credit history,” she said.

For a high-cost vehicle like the Lightning, the credit scores of owners could potentially be higher. Meanwhile, Insurify’s data shows that the ticket and accident rates for Lightning drivers are about half that of traditional F-150s.

That helps explain why insurance gaps can shift from place to place and model to model. even when the technology is broadly similar. “Factors like climate risk. vehicle theft rates. population density. insurance regulation. repair infrastructure. and EV adoption levels contribute to regional cost differences. ” the Insurify report stated. In several states, it cited climate-driven extreme weather, such as hurricanes and flooding, as drivers of high costs.

This EV insurance story isn’t confined to the United States. In 2024, BloombergNEF found about the same spread in the United Kingdom and Germany. France saw double the disparity. Overall, though, American EV owners still paid 87 percent more for insurance than Europeans.

Aleksandra O’Donovan. head of electrified transport at BloombergNEF. said the wider cost gaps in the large and SUV segments reflect several model-specific factors. pointing to the Tesla Model Y as a particularly extreme example. “[The U.S. price] is nearly triple the insurance rate for the same vehicle in Germany.”.

The trend inside the U.S. has also moved. From 2023 to 2025, the EV insurance gap in the U.S. grew from 29 percent to 49 percent. But this year, it came down slightly, which Taliesin said is among a few good signs for EV drivers. Another is that the disparity among cars made in the last two years was only 18 percent—compared with 42 percent across all years.

That drop is partly because auto insurance prices fell across the board in the last year. Taliesin also said ICE cars are catching up to EVs in terms of how complicated and expensive they are to fix. The cost of EV batteries is also trending downward. As EV sales have grown. there is more data for companies to base their prices on and more incentive for them to court EV owners.

”We’ve been seeing a ton of insurance-shopping behavior as insurers have been dropping their rates to compete for business,” Taliesin said. “That’s definitely a welcome reprieve.”

Still, for drivers staring at the renewal quote, the message is hard to ignore: the electricity savings may come later. In the meantime, the premiums are already due.

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