EV adoption has slowed, Mitchell

Overall adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) has slowed, according to Mitchell's Plugged-In EV Collision Insights report. 

The report analyzes trends in collision claims and repair for BEVs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and mild hybrid electric vehicles (MHEVs).

In the U.S. BEV purchases went down by about 2% from 2024. Despite this, claim frequency for collision damaged BEVs is up 14.1% from 2024. MHEV claims were up 20% and PHEV claims increased 6%.  But claims costs have decreased by 5% in the U.S, according to the report.

Ryan Mandell, vice president of strategy and market intelligence for Mitchell's auto physical damage division, said in a press release: 

"Even as BEV adoption slowed in North America last year following the end of government tax incentives, the auto insurance and collision repair industries still saw claims volume rise since more of these automobiles are on the road than ever before. Due to their dense electrical architectures, software-driven systems and interconnected, sensor-heavy designs, these vehicles require additional diagnostic and calibration operations when damaged that can add cost, complexity and cycle time to each repair."

BEVs averaged 1.70 calibrations per estimate in 2025 compared to 1.54 for cars with internal combustion engines. 

Mandell shared with Digital Insurance: "The most surprising finding from our analysis was Tesla's declining average repair severity, which bucked the trend seen across other EV manufacturers. This divergence appears directly linked to Tesla's market maturity. In 2025, non-Tesla EVs averaged more than a full model year newer than their Tesla counterparts, representing a significant shift from previous years when age profiles were nearly identical or even showed Tesla vehicles as slightly newer."