The reform of new energy vehicle insurance premiums is proceeding quietly, with the second minor adjustment to the floating range of the independent pricing coefficient. The goal is fairness, fairness, fairness.

Recently, “Huibao Tianxia” learned from industry insiders that the autonomous pricing coefficient range for new energy vehicle insurance has been adjusted again, expanding from [0.6-1.4] to [0.55-1.45]. This is the second expansion since September 2025, bringing it very close to the ultimate goal of [0.5-1.5].

Compared to the one-step expansion of fuel vehicle insurance pricing coefficients in 2023, the adjustment for new energy vehicle insurance has been gradual, in three steps, attempting to minimize market impact.

However, regardless of the approach, the autonomous pricing coefficient for new energy vehicle insurance is continuously expanding toward a more market-oriented direction, with the goal of better aligning insurance prices with actual risks.

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Three-step expansion of autonomous pricing coefficients for new energy vehicle insurance, aligning with fuel vehicles

The autonomous pricing coefficient for auto insurance is a factor that insurance companies adjust within a range based on risk factors such as vehicle type, usage, and driver behavior, on top of the base premium. The range of this coefficient directly determines the pricing boundaries for insurers. The continuous expansion of this range often means insurers have more flexible pricing options, and it also means that insurance prices for consumers will better match their risk levels, further reducing the subsidy of low-risk customers to high-risk ones.

Historically, the core of auto insurance reform has been breaking the uniform pricing model and gradually moving toward “risk and price matching,” to better meet the differentiated needs of drivers at various risk levels. Since the comprehensive reform of auto insurance in 2020, where the autonomous channel coefficient and autonomous underwriting coefficient were merged into the autonomous pricing coefficient, the expansion of the pricing coefficient range has become a trend. In 2023, the autonomous pricing coefficient range for fuel vehicles was expanded once from [0.65-1.35] to [0.5-1.5].

In September 2025, the autonomous pricing coefficient for new energy vehicle insurance was adjusted for the first time, with a slight change, expanding from [0.65-1.35] to [0.6-1.4].

On March 6, 2026, a second minor adjustment was made, further expanding the range from [0.6-1.4] to [0.55-1.45].

Industry insiders indicate that in the second half of 2026, the autonomous pricing coefficient for new energy vehicle insurance will undergo a third adjustment, further expanding to [0.5-1.5], fully aligning with fuel vehicles.

For high-risk consumers, this means the upper limit of their insurance premiums for new energy vehicles will be raised. Meanwhile, for drivers with relatively lower risk levels, the lower limit of their premiums will be further reduced. The ultimate result is that insurance prices for new energy vehicles will better match risk, making pricing fairer and more reasonable, with additional rewards for low-risk consumers.

Industry experts say that this adjustment in new energy vehicle insurance premiums is the result of years of accumulated experience data. Since the launch of dedicated clauses for new energy vehicle insurance, the entire industry has accumulated over four years of underwriting and claims data. The number of new energy vehicles has risen from 7.84 million to over 40 million by the end of 2025. With richer data, insurers have become more precise in understanding risks related to the three electric systems, maintenance costs of intelligent components, and accident rates across different models. This allows their pricing models to more closely reflect actual risks, ultimately benefiting the entire market.

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Everything begins in 2024: the gradual high-quality development of new energy vehicle insurance

The “premium reform” for new energy vehicle insurance started in January 2024, when the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the “Notice on Promoting High-Quality Development of New Energy Vehicle Insurance (Draft for Comments),” explicitly stating that the autonomous pricing coefficient range for new energy commercial vehicle insurance should be implemented as [0.5-1.5].

By January 2025, the CBIRC, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Transport, and Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reform, Strengthening Supervision, and Promoting High-Quality Development of New Energy Vehicle Insurance.” While not explicitly defining the autonomous pricing coefficient range, it clearly emphasized:

“Steadily optimize the floating range of autonomous pricing coefficients. Reasonably optimize the range of autonomous pricing coefficients for new energy commercial vehicle insurance, effectively leverage market mechanisms, promote better risk-price matching, and improve the scientificity of pricing by market entities.”

This indicates that optimizing the autonomous pricing coefficient for new energy vehicle insurance has gained recognition from multiple ministries. However, this is just one part of a broader reform package aimed at high-quality development of new energy vehicle insurance, which also includes establishing high-loss risk sharing mechanisms, enriching commercial insurance products, and optimizing baseline rates. These reforms have become the main focus of the 2025 auto insurance market development.

In this context, early 2025 saw the launch of the “Good Insurance for Auto” platform, aimed at solving the problem of high-claim risks in insuring new energy vehicles. By February 2026, the platform had served 1.35 million new energy vehicles and registered nearly 1.7 million users.

Since the launch of dedicated clauses for new energy vehicle insurance at the end of 2021, the industry has developed over four years, achieving certain results. Since the first half of 2025, the operation of new energy vehicle insurance has improved. Major insurers like PICC, Ping An, and Taiping have reported that their new energy vehicle insurance businesses are entering profitability, with relatively ideal cost ratio improvements. Industry data also shows that the premium growth rate for new energy vehicle insurance exceeded 40%, outpacing the growth of claims paid.

However, most small and medium insurers are still struggling with losses, and some regional markets have experienced “premium increases for unclaimed customers” due to operational pressures. This underscores that only by truly liberalizing autonomous pricing coefficients and matching premiums with risks can the industry break the cycle of “drivers complain about high costs, insurers complain about losses,” and move toward high-quality development.

Of course, the challenges faced by new energy vehicle insurance are not solely about pricing coefficients but involve systemic issues across product types, technological innovation, and risk assessment. While expanding the pricing range provides insurers with more flexible risk pricing tools, these tools alone cannot automatically solve industry losses. The real challenge lies in whether insurers can establish comprehensive risk identification systems and enhance refined pricing capabilities within the broader, wider pricing ranges.

On a deeper level, with rapid iteration of new energy vehicles—many models claiming Level 3 autonomous driving, and Level 4 models emerging—the insurance industry continues to face challenges. As China’s share of new energy vehicles increases and more vehicles go global, the market space for new energy vehicle insurance remains broad.

During the National Two Sessions this year, Zhou Yanfang, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and director of the China Pacific Strategic Research Center (ESG Office), proposed advancing high-quality development of new energy vehicle insurance from four aspects: building a national-level autonomous driving data sharing standard and platform, accelerating the revision of laws and regulations related to intelligent driving, establishing key technology and service standards, and implementing differentiated product innovation and pricing guidelines.