News analysis
Is your EV in good health?
Toby Poston, director of corporate affairs, BVRLA, gets a host of experts and engineers together to get the full picture on battery health. P
eople like sure things. Certainty and confidence go hand in hand, with comfort taken in predictable outcomes. While some thrive on a gamble that comes with a step into the unknown, most prefer to be safe in the knowledge that they have details to make an informed decision. This has perhaps never been more the case in our industry than the continued transition to EVs. We’re at the tipping point between early adopters making the move and the masses following suit. To continue the upward trajectory towards cleaner, greener vehicles, people crave one thing above everything else.
Certainty
The changes that come with swapping a petrol or diesel vehicle for an electric one are well documented. Range frustrations, charge anxiety and running costs have dominated the conversation for years. The situation has been described by some in the industry as akin to a game of ‘Whack-a-Mole’. No sooner has one issue been addressed another has arisen. Battery health is the next mole to raise its head. According to Auto Trader, concerns over the longevity of EV batteries put 40% off making the switch. Drivers are desperately seeking reassurance batteries will last beyond the first few years.
So what is the reality? Are batteries really losing performance at a high rate and preventing EVs from having long-term value?
At the BVRLA’s Fleets in Charge Deep Dive last month, a host of battery health experts and engineers came together to present the full picture. In a nutshell, the situation presented was better than many fear.
Data presented by Geotab – pulling from over 6,000 EVs and three million trips – confirmed that average battery degradation is around just 2% each year.
The issue is not that batteries are not lasting long enough. It is the perception that they may not.
Part of the solution is better education of prospective owners or operators. The sales process should present the data in a clear and digestible way. Battery health should be discussed in the same way driver needs, cost of ownership and vehicle specification would be. Normalising the topic of degradation and presenting vehicle performance in a transparent way will allow customers to make their own decision having been presented will the facts.
But how do we gather the data to have those conversations? Being able to accurately track a battery’s performance and State of Health (SOH) is a space
seeing rapid growth with many companies taking differing approaches with unique methodologies.
Not all battery health tests are created equal. There are varying approaches bringing variable results. There is no single solution and this technology is at a very early stage of its development. The only thing we can say with certainty is that government standard setters are working on one for battery health – which won’t be here for a couple of years yet - and haven’t yet endorsed any of the solutions that are out on the market. The market is unlikely to wait that long. EV batteries are an important and expensive asset that need to be managed in the same way as the vehicles they sit in. Whether they are being used for in-life battery management or used BEV assurance purposes, these state-of-health solutions and certificates will continue to emerge and evolve.
We don’t yet know the way forward, nor do we know how much value drivers will ultimately place on the results. But we do know that battery health is a key consideration for most used BEV buyers and so we can expect to see a lot more battery health discussion and data being shared. If you are looking at a potential solution, the best advice currently is ‘do your research’. The data it produces
Above: Toby Poston, director of corporate affairs, BVRLA.
should be used only as a guide and there is no guarantee that it will stand up to robust scrutiny or avoid being challenged by another battery health status provider. The BVRLA and its members will continue to monitor this topic and explore opportunities to work with battery experts, policymakers and stakeholders from across the fleet and mobility services supply chain.
The quality of battery health information will undoubtedly improve rapidly in the months and years ahead. Let us hope that confidence in used BEVs follows a similar trajectory.
www.businesscar.co.uk | June 2023 | 13
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