Norwegian Study Finds EVs Crash Less Than Petrol Cars
Norwegian accident data reveals electric vehicles crash 36% less per kilometre than petrol cars, according to a new Marsh Re report analyzing six years of traffic collisions across the country. The findings, based on over 19,000 accidents and 210 billion kilometres of driving exposure, challenge assumptions about EV safety and offer fresh insight for reinsurers adjusting to the electric transition.
EV Crash Rates Fall as Fleet Matures
Norway’s dominance in EV adoption provides a unique lens into vehicle safety trends. In 2025, 95.9% of new passenger car sales were electric, according to the Norwegian Road Federation. This near-total market penetration means the country’s accident record reflects an unusually deep EV experience that compares closely to what other markets may face as electrification accelerates.
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The report finds EV accident frequency was 41% below the petrol rate in 2025 alone, based on more than 1,000 EV accidents and 13 billion EV kilometres driven that year. Marsh Re calculated the rate at 7.7 accidents per million kilometres for EVs versus 13 for petrol cars. Across the full six-year dataset, EVs are involved in 36% fewer accidents per kilometre than petrol cars. Additionally, EV crash rates have declined every year since 2020, marking a 16% improvement over the period, while petrol rates remained relatively stable.
This divergence between accident frequency and total driving distance is significant. Norway’s EV fleet tripled its annual kilometres over the same six-year span, yet accidents did not scale proportionally. The finding directly challenges motor insurers’ pricing models, which have often relied on early-adopter data from commercial and ride-share fleets where EVs were driven more intensively.
Age-Based Risk Patterns Shape Underwriting
The vehicle age curve reveals key nuances in EV crash behavior. New EVs aged zero to two years currently exhibit higher normalised accident frequency than petrol cars of the same age. However, this raised rate has dropped sharply over the six-year period, indicating a learning-curve effect as drivers adapt to electric vehicles. By three to five years of age, EV frequency converges to near parity with petrol cars. By six to 10 years, EVs have the lowest accident frequency of any fuel type.
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The report also examines severity, revealing a more complex picture. EV accidents involve 32% more parties on average than petrol collisions and are twice as likely to include pedestrians. Single-vehicle accidents and fixed-object collisions are significantly less common for EVs. When it comes to claim costs, collision expenses are 21.9% higher for EVs, while personal injury claims are 23.7% lower, and bodily injury claims 23.1% lower. Overall costs remain broadly similar between EVs and internal combustion engine vehicles.
Severity Patterns Complicate the Picture
Smaller claims rise in cost while larger claims fall. This creates a different risk profile at the tail. Excess-of-loss treaties are most sensitive to this pattern. As the EV insurance market has grown rapidly, reinsurers have priced and structured treaties largely on the assumption that EV severity would be uniformly higher. The Norwegian data suggests that assumption needs to be disaggregated by damage type before it is applied to loss picks or attachment points. The frequency findings rest on a statistically robust dataset spanning six years and a fleet large enough to support meaningful segment-level analysis. The dataset combines the Norwegian Public Roads Administration accident registry with Statistics Norway traffic volume data.
