Fleets and leasing companies selling electric vehicles now have an independent way to reassure potential buyers about the health of the batteries, following the decision by CARA, Europe’s car remarketing association, to approve two certification schemes.
MOBA and AVILOO are the first two companies to successfully pass CARA’s independent application and technical tests (conducted by TÜV SÜD) and can now use CARA Europe’s Battery Health Check logo on their products and adverts.
Their tests will use OEM’s embedded battery management systems to show the state of health of the battery as a percentage of the type approved usable battery energy.
Wolfgang Reinhold, CARA Europe President, said: “We believe that we now have a strong and reliable tool for the industry to perform tests on the battery health of used cars. The CARA-approved Battery Health Check addresses an urgent market need. By removing buyer uncertainty about the battery health of the vehicle, it helps sellers safeguard the residual value of used battery electric vehicles.”
Reassuring consumers
Despite early evidence from fleets suggesting that EV battery degradation is relatively low, the decline in performance of smartphone batteries over two to three years appears to be undermining consumer confidence in EVs. A new survey of 2,000 drivers has found that 47% of respondents have fears over battery durability, citing the issue as a barrier to EV adoption.
Dispelling consumer misunderstandings and boosting confidence in battery technology remains vital therefore, to protect EV residual values.
In the UK, the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association is working with Government and the fleet sector industry to promote battery health information that is reliable, accessible and useable to reassure buyers of secondhand EVs, while the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) says an industry standard battery health check is needed to create a much higher degree of confidence in the used EV sector.
Philip Nothard, Chair of the VRA, said: “EV technology is still very new to most used car buyers and many people have heard largely inaccurate stories about the rate at which batteries start to lose range and the cost if they fail completely. Some form of industry standard battery health check would be the most effective solution, providing an accurate picture of what the consumer could reasonably expect in terms of current and future range and charging.”
State of health monitoring
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe is working on a Global Technical Regulation to establish a harmonised method to monitor the health of batteries over time and set minimum performance requirements for the durability of batteries.
“A loss in utility could dampen consumer sentiment and curb the market growth necessary for electric vehicle sales to deliver on fleet emissions reductions. Loss of vehicle efficiency could impact the upstream emissions by increasing the amount of electricity needed per vehicle distance travelled,” it said.
And the European Commission’s proposed Euro 7 emission standards, scheduled for 2025, include new rules to regulate the durability of batteries in electric cars and vans in order to increase consumer confidence in EVs. The proposals include the mandatory installation of monitors in EVs to track the state of health of batteries, as well as minimum performance requirements:
|
Vehicle age/usage |
PHEV |
BEV |
|
Until 5 years/100.000 km |
80% |
80% |
|
Up to 8 years/160.000 km |
70% |
70% |
Image: shutterstock_2320402009
