The debate over oil and electricity is currently one of the hottest topics. When attacking the "weakest point" of new energy vehicle owners, the high insurance premiums of new energy vehicles have become the best argument for supporters of fuel vehicles to counterattack: "The fuel money saved by electric cars has been paid into premiums

For a long time, it has been widely recognized that the premium for new energy vehicles is relatively high. Specifically, the Zero Run B10, priced at 100000 yuan, has a first-year premium of approximately 5500 yuan this year; Avita 06, priced at 200000 yuan, has a first-year premium of approximately 8000 yuan; The Tesla Model Y L, priced at 300000 yuan, has a first-year premium of 8900 yuan.

The data from the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration also confirms this trend: in 2023, the average premium for new energy vehicles will be 4395 yuan, which is 63% higher than that of gasoline vehicles.

However, this situation is ushering in a turning point.

Since the beginning of this year, under the dual effects of policy guidance and the increase in private car ownership rate, the premium of new energy vehicle insurance is expected to gradually decline. Insurance companies that were previously deeply mired in losses have finally achieved profitability in this business sector.

This transformation has also attracted the attention of the upstream of the industrial chain. Xiaomi, GAC, BYD and other car companies have entered the insurance industry one after another. At the same time, a core question also emerged: when new energy vehicle insurance becomes profitable, will host manufacturers flood in on a large scale and redefine the rules of the game?

01 High new energy insurance premiums are disliked by everyone

For a long time, new energy vehicle insurance has been trapped in a vicious cycle of "car owners finding it expensive and insurance companies losing money". Cars often have to pay thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan in insurance premiums, and daily driving has to be cautious. Even if there are no accidents throughout the year, insurance premiums may still rise the following year; On the insurance company side, even if the premium threshold is raised, the high cost of claims still cannot cover the premium income and continues to face loss pressure.

The core of this dilemma lies in the high compensation costs of new energy vehicle insurance. In 2024, the average risk cost of new energy vehicles will be 2.2 times that of fuel vehicles, and the overall comprehensive cost rate of the industry will remain at around 107%. This means that for every 100 yuan premium collected by insurance companies, they have to pay a cost of 107 yuan. According to data from the China Actuarial Association, in 2024, new energy vehicle insurance underwriting will incur a loss of 5.7 billion yuan, with 137 vehicle series having a payout ratio exceeding 100%.

The manufacturing process and design characteristics of new energy vehicles directly increase the maintenance costs of compensation. For example, in order to pursue a sense of design and integration, many new energy vehicle models adopt "integrated" component design, often "a little bit of collision damage requires repair". Similarly, if the taillights are damaged, replacing a single taillight in a gasoline car usually only costs a few hundred yuan; However, some new energy vehicles are equipped with integrated long headlights, and once damaged, the entire lamp or assembly must be replaced, at a cost of thousands of yuan.

At the same time, the core components of new energy vehicles have higher prices and strict requirements for maintenance channels, equipment, and parts, which further drives up maintenance quotes.

In addition, the purpose of the vehicle and the characteristics of the car owner group are also important factors driving up insurance premiums. In 2024, the proportion of operating vehicles in new energy vehicles is 10 percentage points higher than that of fuel vehicles, and the usage intensity is relatively high; The driving experience of car owners is relatively short, and the proportion of new energy car owners under 35 years old in the overall new energy car owners is 14 percentage points higher than that of fuel car owners in the same age group.

In order to reduce car insurance expenses or avoid refusal of insurance, ride hailing car owners rarely purchase insurance for their operating vehicles, but instead mix in the household car insurance pool. This behavior not only increases the overall accident rate and payout rate of insurance companies, but also affects private car owners who purchase the same model, indirectly pushing up the premium of household new energy vehicles.

02 New energy vehicle insurance, starting to lower prices to make money

Entering 2025, the joint efforts of multiple forces have finally broken the deadlock.

At the policy level, we took the lead in breaking the ice. At the beginning of this year, multiple departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reform, Strengthening Supervision, and Promoting High quality Development of New Energy Vehicle Insurance", which refined the classification of new energy vehicle insurance, strengthened policy coordination, and reduced the full life cycle cost of new energy vehicles from the source.

In response to the chaos of purchasing household car insurance for ride hailing services, the "Guiding Opinions" propose to enrich commercial car insurance products, research and launch a "basic+variable" new energy car insurance combination product, and help ride hailing services flexibly purchase insurance based on actual operating conditions, accurately matching the risk requirements and insurance capabilities of different car owners.

The premium changes of the Aion model are a vivid reflection of this trend.

As more and more private car owners purchase Ai'an, there are more and more roast about its high premium. In 2024, a consumer posted a statement saying, "After considering all the issues without considering insurance, I dare not go on the road without full insurance for electric cars." The consumer bought a car in 2022 only for household use and drove 30000 kilometers in three years, with a first year premium of 5000 yuan and a second year premium of 4300 yuan. After the accident, they contacted multiple insurance companies in 2024, either refusing insurance or facing "sky high premiums".

Coincidentally, some new car owners have been involved in accidents twice a year within the past two years, with the insurance premium rising to 7800 yuan in the second year and skyrocketing to 17000 yuan in the third year; Even for private users who have not been involved in any accidents, the premium is as high as 8900 yuan.

But the situation has significantly improved this year. Some car owners have posted that the second year renewal premium is less than 5000 yuan without any accidents, and some car owners even have it as low as 3600 yuan.

In addition to the precise differentiation of household and operational needs by policies, the optimization of underwriting structure brought about by the increasing proportion of new energy private car owners is also the key to reducing losses and profits in the industry. Data shows that the proportion of household cars in new energy vehicle insurance premiums has increased from 42% in 2020 to 67% in 2024, while the overall payout ratio of new energy household cars is much lower than that of commercial buses and trucks, directly driving down the overall accident rate and payout ratio of the industry.

From the overall data of the industry, the upward trend of new energy vehicle insurance premiums this year is also significantly slowing down. The new energy vehicle insurance premiums for the first 11 months of 2023 and 2024 were 76.977 billion yuan and 117.73 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 58.9% and 52.9%, respectively; In the first 11 months of this year, the sales of new energy vehicles reached 14.78 million units, a year-on-year increase of 31.2%. The commercial car insurance premium was 139.1 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate slowing down to 34.52%. The premium gradually matched the sales growth.

Insurance companies have already benefited first, and the three leading enterprises of PICC Property&Casualty Insurance, Ping An Property&Casualty Insurance, and Taiping Property&Casualty Insurance have turned losses into profits. In the first half of 2025, the business revenue of PICC Property&Casualty Insurance, Ping An Property&Casualty Insurance, and Taiping Property&Casualty Insurance's auto insurance will be 144.065 billion yuan, 108.611 billion yuan, and 53.606 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 3.4%, 3.6%, and 2.8%.

Specifically in the new energy vehicle insurance sector, Ping An Property and Casualty Insurance disclosed in its semi annual report that "new energy vehicle insurance achieved current underwriting profits"; Taiping Property and Casualty Insurance also announced that "new energy vehicle insurance has achieved underwriting profitability, and the comprehensive cost rate of the household car sector is below 100%".

Behind the dawn of the industry is the vast growth potential of new energy vehicle insurance. McKinsey predicts that by 2030, the premium scale of new energy vehicle insurance will reach around 480 billion yuan, accounting for over 40% of the total premium of vehicle insurance and becoming the core driving force for the growth of the vehicle insurance industry.

03 OEM also wants to take away a piece of cake

With the entry of new energy vehicle insurance into the profit cycle, the host factories that have already laid out in the insurance field have also tasted the sweetness.

The joining of the host manufacturers is not accidental. Their entry is not only aimed at the growth dividends of new energy vehicle insurance and exploring new profit growth points, but also necessary to solve the pain points of insurance for their ride hailing car owners by setting up their own insurance companies to alleviate the situation and improve user stickiness.

At present, there are several property and casualty insurance companies with OEM backgrounds, including Zhongcheng Insurance established by GAC Group, Xin'an Automobile Insurance established by FAW Group, Hezhong Property Insurance invested by Geely Group, and Shenzhen BYD Property Insurance under BYD.

From business data, these insurance companies have begun to take shape. In the first three quarters of this year, the four aforementioned companies had a total insurance business revenue of 6.102 billion yuan and a total net profit of 226 million yuan, demonstrating a good growth momentum.

Specifically, Zhongcheng Insurance ranked first with a premium income of 3.031 billion yuan, followed closely by BYD Property and Casualty Insurance with 2.07 billion yuan, and Hezhong Property and Casualty Insurance and Xin'an Insurance with 585 million yuan and 417 million yuan, respectively; In terms of net profit, BYD Property and Casualty Insurance made a profit of over 105 million yuan, Zhongcheng Insurance and Xin'an Insurance made a profit of 89.4309 million yuan and 30.1681 million yuan respectively, and Hezhong Property and Casualty Insurance made a profit of 1.6165 million yuan.

Compared to traditional insurance companies, car companies have natural advantages in entering the insurance industry: firstly, they can save a lot of marketing costs, do not need to pay high handling fees to intermediaries, and have stronger cost control capabilities; Secondly, it can directly share the customer resources, vehicle data, and operation system of the host factory, open up the closed loop of the "vehicle product insurance service after-sales maintenance" industry chain, and improve service collaboration efficiency.

The cost advantage is directly reflected in premium pricing. At the end of the third quarter of this year, the average premiums for car insurance of BYD Property and Casualty Insurance, Zhongcheng Insurance, Xin'an Insurance, and Hezhong Property and Casualty Insurance were 4046.58 yuan, 3290.47 yuan, 2645.38 yuan, and 2060.23 yuan, respectively. Except for BYD Property Insurance, the premiums of the other companies are lower than the average premium of new energy vehicles.

However, the core risk of insurance business lies in compensation. Although several insurance companies have already made profits, the problem of high compensation rates has not been solved. Their comprehensive cost ratios all exceed 100%, and losses are mostly covered by investment income.

Especially when the proportion of ride hailing services is relatively high, the pressure of losses is more pronounced. Taking Modern Property and Casualty Insurance as an example, it has clearly transformed into the new energy ride hailing insurance market since 2020. In the first three quarters of this year, its average premium was as high as 5700 yuan, which is not only much higher than the industry average level, but the overall operation is also in a loss making state.

Fortunately, this situation is undergoing a positive transformation. The regulatory authorities have gradually aligned the range of autonomous pricing coefficients for new energy vehicle insurance with that of fuel vehicles, and ultimately expanded the autonomous pricing coefficient from the previous [0.65, 1.35] to [0.5, 1.5].

The expansion of premium fluctuation space is driven by the enhancement of insurance companies' independent pricing power, which enables them to more accurately match risks and premiums, effectively improving underwriting efficiency - allowing high-quality car owners with low accident rates to enjoy lower premiums, and high-risk car owners with frequent accidents to bear higher costs, thereby optimizing the overall profit structure.

At present, the comprehensive cost ratio of BYD Property and Casualty Insurance has significantly decreased from an astonishing high in 2024 to 101.23% in the first half of 2025, just one step away from achieving full underwriting profitability, demonstrating a rapid improvement trend.

In the long run, the influx of host manufacturers will not only intensify market competition and provide a safety net for their own brand car owners, but also promote the evolution of car insurance from a standardized financial product to a "service-oriented" product deeply bound to vehicles, more personalized, and more focused on risk prevention, ultimately reshaping the entire ecology and rules of new energy car insurance.

More profoundly, the high premium is closely related to the high maintenance cost. The entry of OEMs is expected to force 4S stores and after-sales service centers to standardize the pricing system, squeeze out a foam in the price of maintenance, and make new energy owners no longer nervous about the level of maintenance costs and premiums.

The new energy vehicle insurance market is standing at a critical turning point. With the expansion of independent pricing power, increasingly accurate risk profiles, and the service model innovation brought about by the deep entry of OEMs, a new ecology of new energy vehicle insurance that is more transparent, efficient, and focuses more on risk matching is taking shape. This not only means that future car owners are expected to receive more reasonable premiums, but also indicates that car insurance will shift from simple loss compensation to more precise and scientific full cycle risk management, and is expected to truly become an important cornerstone in the wave of new energy vehicle popularization.

Price reduction is just the beginning, change has already arrived.