A new report reveals that car thieves are far less likely to steal electric vehicles (EVs) than regular, gas-powered vehicles.
As Axios reports, the latest report by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) shows that just over 1 million vehicles were stolen in the United States in 2023. However, four of the six least-stolen cars in the survey were EVs: The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, the Hyundai Tucson, the Volvo XC90, and the GMC Acadia.
Additional analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reveals that about 49 out of every 100,000 insured cars are stolen per year, on average. But only 1 out of every 100,000 insured Tesla Model 3s was stolen in the same time span.
The NICB and IIHS were able to make these determinations by ranking vehicles with model years between 2021 and 2023, and then comparing the numbers of “whole vehicle theft” claims as a percentage of the total number of vehicles of each model that were insured.
“Even as the volume of EV thefts have increased over time, it is still extremely low in comparison to gas-powered vehicles,” said NICB public affairs specialist Nicholas Zeitlinger in a statement.
“The technology in these cars is not as common knowledge,” Zeitlinger added. “Most don’t use keys but are controlled through a phone or with a keycard.” He also speculated that “these vehicles are often garaged or kept next to a home for charging purposes, which may make them unappealing targets.”
Furthermore, EVs are more easily trackable than conventional vehicles due to the GPS systems embedded within them.
However, Zeitlinger noted, EVs are still “high dollar vehicles” and thus “have appeal in that respect,” meaning that thieves could still try to target EVs once they have a better grasp of the technology.
The most-stolen car in 2023 was the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, which accounted for 2,583 stolen vehicles for every 100,000. This was followed by three other Dodge vehicles: The Charger SRT Hellcat, the Charger HEMI, and the Challenger.
Wow. I looked around my swank liberal neighborhood on my morning walk and there were no Dodges to be seen. It’s all Toyotas and Subarus and Hondas and Teslas.
It might also be that the demand for EVs has sharply declined or that stealing a vehicle that might not be charged or has the potential to spontaneously combust is unattractive to someone who is trying to not get caught.