Electric vehicle battery health checks on DfT agenda

Government plans on used electric vehicle (EV) battery health checks were discussed at July’s meeting of the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA).

Publishing its Plan for the Automotive Sector last year, the Labour Party said that assurances of the battery health of used cars is the best driver to stimulate demand.

It promised to implement a standardised battery health certification scheme for used vehicles similar to those already in place in other countries such as Norway.

Alongside this, it said it would continue to monitor developments in the European Union proposals to require the fitting battery state of health monitors to new electric vehicles

Referring to the principles outlined in Labour’s automotive strategy, Abdul Chowdhury, head of vehicle policy at the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles (OZEV), also highlighted the Government’s work to date on the United Nations Global Technical Regulation Number 22 on EV batteries (GTR 22).

He said: “GTR 22 provides the requirement for a battery state of health monitor which is in an easily accessible manner, such as through the vehicle’s dashboard.

“It also details minimum performance standards for EV batteries, which have already been incorporated into UK regulations through the ZEV mandate's warranty requirements.”

The Car Remarketing Association Europe (CARA) has already introduced a European battery health check standard.

Roland Gagel, workshop lead for battery health at CARA, said: “The importance of a battery health check is unquestionable.

“The question is about whether the battery health check remains an add-on for the consumer when they buy the car like today or becomes more of standard component that is included whenever anyone buys an EV.

“We believe that it will become a standard component and the CARA Battery Health Check is a standard that develops in that direction.”

Matthieu Peugeot, sales manager at Aviloo, one of the CARA-approved battery health check providers, emphasised the significant impact of state of health (SoH) tests on end customers' purchasing decisions and their price sensitivity.

He said: “Currently, SoH diagnostics provided by Aviloo are considered a highly valuable add-on, with EV remarketers and buyers becoming increasingly aware of their benefits.

“An SoH certificate serves as an effective sales support tool and is a key factor in price-setting.”

Aviloo recently conducted a remarketing study which showed that customers all over Europe are willing to pay a minimum of €550 to €1,100 more, depending on the country, for used electric cars that come with a health check certificate from an independent provider than for used EVs without certificates.

Patrick Cresswell, managing director at ClearWatt said that the value of battery health checks lay in the fact that the incidence of ‘dud’ EVs on the market is low but the consequences of owning one are high.

“You might have to replace an entire battery or, more likely, scrap the vehicle,” he explained. “It’s a protection against that scale of loss.”

Alex Johns, partnership lead at Altelium, told attendees at the VRA meeting that battery health checks should take place as early as possible in the remarketing cycle and be made available to everyone within that process.

“That way, everyone knows the condition of the battery from the outset covering the entire path from initial vendor to end user and all intermediaries,” he said.

With used car and van buyers have serious concerns about the possibility of battery degradation and failure when they consider an EV, chair of the VRA, Philip Nothard, chair at the VRA, said: “Battery health checks are the best potential solution to allaying those fears.

“The meeting allowed us to really drill down into the subject, looking at the pros and cons of the different technologies available, practical issues such as when and where tests are needed, how to present the information produced to trade and retail buyers, and the potential impact on vehicle values.

“Feedback from members was very positive and this is a subject to which we plan to return in the future as the used EV market grows in importance.”

He added that it would be interesting to see how Labour’s project on an official battery health check progressed over time.

“One of the recurring themes of our discussions at the meeting was that arriving at a standard measure of battery health is quite difficult – there are many ways to measure battery health and present the results, as well as question marks over which are most meaningful to consumers,” he concluded. “The Government has some quite tricky decisions to make.”