This article was created in partnership with Europcar.
The Electric Vehicle (EV) space is moving at a rapid rate – with more and more people looking to adop
t EV over Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles. According to research from ACEA, battery electric vehicles made up 15% of the market share in January 2025, with hybrid electric vehicles commanding 34% of the overall market.
But what’s driving this change? Well, it’s a combination of ethical buying and shifting attitudes amongst private motorists and businesses to electric motoring. Speaking to IB, Europcar’s head of insurance sales, James Roberts (pictured), said that this uptick is reflective of market shifts in general.
“If you look back to 2011 when the first EVs were on the road, it was a lot of fleet customers buying and running them,” he told IB. “Over the last few years, as the charging infrastructure and battery development has improved range, there’s a lot more confidence in the consumer to step into EV. A lot of the fear, uncertainty and doubt that was in the market has diminished now. As OEMs have broadened the choice and price point of electric vehicles, we’re seeing the adoption in the personal lines space start to edge up, albeit there’s still quite a long way to go before it meets the level of uptake by company car drivers and fleets.”
At Europcar, there is a clear commitment to support and encourage the use of EVs. So much so that, as of April 2025, business account holders have been able to rent electric vehicles at the same price as their ICE counterparts, removing that financial barrier to EV adoption. However, Europcar believes the insurance sector is not keeping pace with the upward trend in the use of EVs. And Roberts believes there’s one worrying habit that’s continuing to hold back full market acceptance - a business-as-usual reliance on sole supply partnership that doesn’t provide the flexibility and agility needed for the changing mobility landscape.
“If you look at an insurer supply chain… there is usually a diversity of specialists, from body shops that can coach build, paint finishers, electric and prestige technicians, and van and truck specialists that an insurer will call upon,” Roberts explained. “It’s true of law firm panels too. But when it comes to replacement vehicle providers, a lot of major insurers have just one supplier.”
That supplier, according to Roberts, often enjoys exclusive volume without competition – which he believes leads to complacency.
“They have no competition because they're guaranteed every single hire that’s placed with them,” he told IB. “So they become a little bit complacent, they’re unlikely to innovate as quickly as a supplier that knows it has to compete for volume. At Europcar we generally trade on dual or multi-supply; we gain our volume from insurers by being the best at service and supply. We must also have the right fleet in place to match each insurer’s demographic. And as their policy book changes, our fleet has to change with that.”
One of these changes was highlighted recently, when a report from Motor Assist found that 67% of EV drivers would refuse an ICE replacement car if theirs was off the road. Roberts sees this as evidence of a broader consumer shift—but one insurers seem to be finding difficult to accommodate.
“There is still a gap between how much an ICE model will cost versus its EV equivalent,” he told IB. “So when it comes to vehicle replacement for an at fault claim, I think a lot of those policyholders are being pushed into petrol on the basis that the insurer’s paying the bill.”
This is in contrast to non-fault drivers who are legally entitled to a like-for-like replacement – a right a lot of customers choose to exercise.
“If you drive a Tesla, you're entitled to another Tesla or equivalent,” Roberts added. “The policyholder knows their entitlement. They’ll say, ‘I’m not at fault—why should I be penalized and asked to drive something smaller?’”
There’s also a tax twist for corporate drivers. EVs come with lower benefit-in-kind tax rates. The replacement vehicle supplied therefore matters. After all, if your vehicle’s off the road for three or four weeks, you will have to notify HMRC and you could be subject to an increase in tax.
All in all, as customer expectations shift, so must insurer partnerships with the replacement vehicle supply chain.
“There is enough EV supply in the market now,” Roberts added. “Insurers should be able to say to policyholders – both non-fault and at-fault - ‘If you have an EV, I’m going to offer you an EV.’ However, the sole supply model means that the insurer’s chosen rental company might turn round and say, ‘I don’t have an EV today, but I’ve got something else,’ and that might mean the customer is forced into a vehicle that’s not their choice. And that could lead to dissatisfaction.”
At Europcar, Roberts and his team are at the forefront of changing the insurance sector’s mindset around EV adoption and client expectations. As a major rental provider with a network of locations across the UK, Roberts says that offering their expert insights is proving invaluable to insurers because there’s a lot of nuances in the EV market that remain unfamiliar to insurers. And this is having an adverse knock-on effect for policyholders. As such, Europcar is a welcome fountain of knowledge and support, giving confidence to insurers, brokers and their client base too.
“We’re all about educating insurers around customer expectations and providing a like-for-like EV solution for every claim,” he told IB. “We’re also providing insight on how an EV works. For example, claims handlers in motor insurance companies often aren’t given the opportunity to get hands-on experience of different models, so they may not know the technicalities of how an EV drives. They may not be familiar with the battery range of a particular model, or the risk of what happens if a vehicle breaks down. You can't take the handbrake off an EV and push it onto a flatbed, it has to be lifted which of course requires a different recovery protocol.”
Looking ahead to what the future hold for the EV market at large in 2025 and beyond, Roberts believes the interest will only continue to rise - despite the political uncertainty swirling around.
“The numbers speak for themselves” he added. “EV sales for March on battery electric vehicles saw a 43% increase year on year. I believe we’re going to see that increase every year from now until 2030; it’s critical, therefore, that insurers ensure their supply chain is equipped to match that growing demand.”
To find out more about Europcar’s Insurance solutions visit here.
