Shenzhen Explores “Battery-Vehicle Separation” Auto Insurance to Boost New Energy Industry

The recently released Action Plan for the Insurance Industry to Support Technological Innovation and Industrial Development in Shenzhen (2026—2028) proposes exploring commercial auto insurance products under the “battery-vehicle separation” model in specific scenarios such as urban transportation. This initiative represents Shenzhen’s concrete practice in implementing national new energy auto insurance reform requirements and a vital exploration of leveraging insurance innovation to propel the development of the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, opening up new ideas for the auto insurance sector to adapt to the NEV industry’s growth.

The exploration of “battery-vehicle separation” auto insurance stems from the practical need to align NEV industry development with auto insurance services. In recent years, China’s NEV market has continued to expand, becoming a key engine for the transformation and upgrading of the auto industry. While existing NEV insurance products provide basic protection, they have gradually revealed a two-way dilemma: “high premiums for car owners and operational losses for insurers.” For consumers, the high maintenance costs and rapid residual value depreciation of power batteries lead to high overall insurance quotes, increasing the burden of car ownership. For insurance institutions, NEVs have a higher accident rate than fuel-powered vehicles; coupled with the difficulty in battery damage assessment and the singularity of risk evaluation models, the compensation rate remains high, placing significant pressure on auto insurance operations.

At the national level, directions for NEV insurance reform have been clarified, providing policy support for the exploration of “battery-vehicle separation” insurance. In January 2025, the China Financial Regulatory Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reform, Strengthening Supervision, and Promoting the High-Quality Development of New Energy Vehicle Insurance, specifically proposing to research and explore commercial auto insurance products under the “battery-vehicle separation” model to provide scientific and reasonable insurance protection for relevant NEVs.

Compared with the traditional underwriting model, the innovative value of the “battery-vehicle separation” insurance model is reflected in multiple aspects. For instance, distinguishing the differences in service life cycles and risk characteristics between vehicle bodies and batteries can better adapt to the special risk structure of NEVs, which is expected to make insurance pricing more reasonable and car owners’ cost structures more transparent. It also helps insurers set scientific prices based on actual risks, alleviate underwriting and compensation pressures, and force the industry to improve risk identification and damage assessment capabilities, promoting refined and professional auto insurance services. Additionally, full-life-cycle management of batteries by professional institutions is expected to further extend battery service life and maximize resource utilization.

As a brand-new exploration, the implementation of “battery-vehicle separation” insurance still faces numerous difficulties. For example, with the frequent circulation of batteries between swapping stations, it is difficult to track their health status, usage intensity, and ownership in real time, making the establishment of accurate risk evaluation models a primary challenge for insurers. Insurance compensation involves multiple entities, including automakers, battery swapping operators, and battery asset management companies, and the efficient coordination of accident liability identification, damage assessment standards, and claim settlement processes also poses a major test.

To promote the steady development of the “battery-vehicle separation” insurance model, policy guidance, industry collaboration, and technological support are required. Government departments need to issue relevant business guidelines and standards, clarify insurance rules, liability division, and data sharing mechanisms to guide implementation. Data barriers should be broken to promote the establishment of data sharing mechanisms among insurance institutions, battery swapping operators, and automakers, enabling data such as battery charging and discharging records, health status, and circulation trajectories to play an enabling role in forming scientific risk evaluation models. Insurance institutions must strengthen collaboration with various industrial chain entities, set up special R&D teams, accelerate the development of exclusive “battery-vehicle separation” insurance products, optimize risk evaluation models, improve damage assessment and claim settlement processes, and establish efficient and scientific claim linkage mechanisms.

In terms of promotion rhythm, steady progress and pilot-first principles should be adhered to. Priority can be given to piloting in operational fields such as urban public transport, taxis, and logistics. These scenarios feature high battery swapping frequency, high usage intensity, frequent energy supplement needs, as well as centralized vehicles, relatively fixed routes, and clear management entities, which are conducive to forming unified service standards, easy observation of effects, and conditions for pilot implementation.