Battery repair black hole is putting the future of EVs under threat
Experts call for end to culture of replace rather than repair amid concerns over second-hand cars
The long-term future of older electric cars is being threatened by manufacturers’ focus on range and charging speed at the expense of repairability, according to vehicle remarketing expert Cox Automotive.
“It’s important that we design batteries with repair in mind, to keep them in the vehicle and then into the energy storage industry beyond that,” Cox Automotive’s European director of operations for EV battery solutions, Antonia Stephenson, told the FT Future of the Car Summit in London yesterday. “We focus a lot on range as an industry, and design has moved in the way of less repairable batteries.” She also flagged that legislation is built more around recycling than repair, reducing the incentive for car manufacturers to build ease of repair into their development.
“If you’re manufacturing EVs that can’t be repaired, it’s going to be a real challenge to sustain residual values,” she continued. “Brand reputation is very important, and with so much choice now, people are going to be thinking about repairability in the future.” Stephenson called for car manufacturers to switch to a “repair mindset”.
“Keeping the battery in the ecosystem for as long as possible is what decarbonisation is all about, it's environmentally better, it's financially better and it also creates that repairability and an industry that's going to sustain the second-hand car market as vehicles age,” she said. “If we keep throwing things away and not repairing them once they’re out of warranty, there's a big problem being stored up, if a second-hand vehicle doesn't have a warranty, if the battery's only option is to be recycled and a new one purchased, it’s not as cost-effective as people would expect from a second-hand vehicle.”
She also warned that as technology evolves and batteries fitted to older cars go out of production, the cost of replacement, if repair isn’t possible, will make it harder to keep cars on the road.
Did you know you can sell your car through Auto Express? We’ll help you get a great price and find a great deal on a new car, too.
