Fleet dominance of new EV market ‘skews’ used choice

The dominance on the new electric vehicle (EV) market by fleets is leading to a lack of appropriate stock for used buyers.

That’s according to Andy Webb, head of sales from Brego, who told attendees at the September meeting of the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) that fleet dominance of the EV market meant there were too many medium and large electric cars entering the remarketing cycle, and not enough smaller ones for everyday buyers.

He explained: “We’re seeing a skewing of the used EV market towards manufacturers and models for which there is limited demand in the market and this has been the primary reason for the collapse in EV values over the last few years.

“If there had been more ‘normal’ EVs around, the falls we have seen may have been much more limited.”

While the situation is improving slightly, with fleets beginning to buy some smaller, cheaper EVs, he says that there is a very real possibility the used market will not begin to function correctly until consumers start buying more new EVs.

He added: “They will eventually provide the kind of stock that the market needs, rather than what it is currently getting.”

The VRA meeting was held at the Swindon head office of Arval UK, and included an EV ride and drive event featuring new models from BYD including the Atto, Dolphin and Seal, as well as used examples from Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Tesla and others.

Webb was speaking as part of a briefing on how to remarket EVs also featuring Martin Miller, founder of Surrey-based specialist EV dealership, EV Experts; and Stuart Chamberlain, head of B2B and partnerships, Arval UK, on EV preparation for sale.

Miller said: “There is no doubt we have been through some considerable pain within the EV market but it really does feel as though things are changing for the better. For example, our unit profit has increased by 18% between June and September this year.

“The factors behind this are numerous but the kind of price parity that we are now seeing between comparable EVs and petrol cars is important and, every time there is an increase in petrol prices, we see increased interest for consumers.

“Especially, when petrol hits £1.50 per litre, it seems to be a tipping point, concentrating the minds of motorists on the kind of savings that are available from going electric.

“We classify the type of customer than we are seeing now as the ‘early majority.’ They are attracted to an EV for practical reasons, don’t overthink their purchase, and are much more numerous than the early adopters who characterised initial EV buyers.”

Chamberlain said that, given the large of numbers of EVs being operated by fleets, Arval had become rapidly adept at their remarketing.

“There are a wide range of best practices that we have come to recognise around EVs,” he explained. “Perhaps the most important is that, given variations on batteries among otherwise identical models, providing a detailed description is essential for trade and retail customers.

“Two seemingly identical vehicles could have a 100-mile difference in range, which equates to a £2,500 difference in trade values. Other EVs have doubled their range between model years.

“There is also a continuing education piece. For example, the most common consumer question we hear is whether you can take an EV through a car wash.

“Within the trade, the answer to this sounds obvious, but it is a worry for some potential buyers. They also need to understand what they are buying in terms of factors such as the cables included, types of socket, and charging speeds. It’s very much a process.”

Alex Johns of Altelium also took part in the event, testing the battery capacity of the used EVs offered in the ride and drive.

“Battery health checks are emerging as an important factor in the used EV market, providing a high degree of reassurance,” he said.

“As we amass more data, we can increasingly see that battery degradation is much slower than consumers imagine and the cars tested here are further proof of that trend.”

VRA chair Philip Nothard believes the remarketing sector is in something of an odd position when it comes to EVs at this point in time.

“As the recent SMMT figures showed, used EV sales have doubled year-on-year but still only account for around one in 40 sales,” he said. “They still represent a relatively small percentage of sales.

“For this reason, many of our members don’t have wide experience of driving or processing EVs, so this meeting was designed to both familiarise them with some interesting and common new and used models, as well as provide insight and useful, practical information on how to process them for remarketing.

“There is a growing volume of EVs entering the used sector as company car fleets start to defleet an increasing number of units, and knowledge about this area is becoming more and more important.

“However, it does feel increasingly as though the situation around EVs has eased considerably, and there is much more optimism in the remarketing sector than even a few months ago.”