Show #463 Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 5th May 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I’ve been through every EV story I could find today to save you time.
Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.
BRIAN WEATHERALL
I’ve already made the change to independent servicing in my 2017 Leaf, following a recommendation on the socials I found a garage on HEVRA.org.uk The nearest was 40 miles away but for my leaf that’s quite a cheap and easy journey, they quoted £120 compared to the dealer at £199. Dropped the car off at 9am, had a few hours in a nearby café getting some work done on their wifi and was all done and back in the office after lunch. No warrantee issues as they used genuine Nissan parts and followed Nissan service guidance, they even had my car plugged into a 7KW charger while they serviced it. Also as you get 3 years recovery with Nissan for a new car I don’t lose that either, not for another year anyway.
CRAIG ROGERS
I believe that independent garages will always be in high demand, as regular OEM dealerships continue to push their outdated and expensive service schemes as they try and rake in as much cash as possible. Look at Kia who are stating that the new Kia E-Nero is listed as needing a service EVERY year or 10,000 miles ……hahaha
I’ve seen many other comments on social media that state that Nissan, BMW, Mercedes are all doing something similar and charging huge amounts of money for servicing, until the customer questions exactly what has been carried on their vehicle!
i.e. Diagnostic plug in check & Pollen filter change etc….
I would happily take my car to someone with a great reputation, like Cleevely EV, or another HEVRA registered company. At least I know that they have been properly trained on electric vehicles and know what they are doing. It more than I could say about OEM dealerships that are still concentrating on fossil car servicing.
RAJEEV NARAYAN
The immediate future of independent auto repair shop, as they exist now, is indeed bleak. Items that need to be serviced in a pure BEV are fewer and in need of service less often. Also current specialty shops that specialize in mufflers, breaks, oil changes may all go the way of the phone booth. This threatens not only the independent repair shops and their non-dealer affiliated network of suppliers, but the dealership's repair and maintenance shop as well. As car computers get more complicated and telemetry data collection gets more robust and mainly shared with the dealer, it is quite possible the dealership will absorb a good deal of whatever maintenance and repair business is left, at the expense of the independents. I suspect the independent car repair/service business will continue to exist but change into something completely different, perhaps some sort of consolidated car wash/lidar inspection/safety check station that also will change your wiper blades and cabin filter, who knows.
GARETH FRANCE
I feel there is certainly a place for after market servicing and repairs. My Leaf has covered 114k miles in 4 years and been rapid charged well over 4,600 times due to a previous life as a taxi. The battery is in perfect health however the charger failed during my first 6 months of ownership. Nissan wanted to charge a whopping £24k to repair this! I ended up actually repairing it myself at a cost of £500 using parts from a local breakers yard. However Indra Renewable Technologies would have only charged £1,500, a bargain compared to the dealer I think you will agree.
HOWARD SMITH
I like the idea of other shops being able to upgrade or repair electric vehicles. I think the emergence of electric vehicles will breathe life back into automotive performance shops and parts suppliers especially as all electric conversion kits become available for classic car platforms.
KYLE HODGSON
Think about all the phone repair shops. Sure some people take their iPhone back to the shiny genius bar, if it's in warranty- but where I live "u break iFix" shops are popping up in most neighborhoods now. We've used them ourselves with handed down iPhones that were out of warranty.
I can't imagine the dealership service model working. Not enough regular maintenance.
But, EV's still have windshields, tires, rims, wiper blades, windshield washer fluid, and on and on.
I sometimes wonder looking under the hood of my Soul EV if someone with a healthy understanding of electrical safety could actually fix it more easily than our old ICE car? Simpler, certainly.
DAVID NYE
Whilst the BEV service demands are much less...
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