As more brands enter the UK market, EV adoption depends on more than the product, price and range. Drivers need to know that their vehicles can be repaired, maintained and supported. In this episode of Talk Auto, we discuss the role of EV aftersales in building confidence beyond the point of sale. Holly and Rich are joined by expert guests to discuss EV repair network readiness, parts availability, and the importance of battery diagnostics and planning for the used EV market from the start.
In this episode of Talk Auto, we discuss:
Guests:
00:00 Rich Price:
We're interested to know what your hot takes are right now?
00:03 Antonia Stephenson:
The battle for EV dominance is actually going to be won or lost in the used marketplace and the aftersales space.
I wouldn't scrap a vehicle because its windscreen was cracked, but that's what we're doing with batteries. We're scrapping them because we haven't properly thought through repairability.
00:19 Ben Hurford:
For me, aftersales and used cars need to be considered right at the beginning of the journey.
If we don't prepare today and build our battery repair capabilities around the batteries going into vehicles now, then when those vehicles become eight years old, we'll be behind the curve and won't be able to solve those challenges.
00:35 Holly Mottram:
When we're talking about aftersales networks, so much goes on beneath the surface.
00:38 Ben Hurford:
The consumer expects that vehicle to perform to a certain standard and, ultimately, wants to get back into that car and back on the road.
00:44 Rich Price:
We obviously haven't had full EVs around for that long.
In ten years' time, will we be seeing ten, twelve and fifteen-year-old EVs on the road in the same way that we see ICE vehicles today?
00:58 Antonia Stephenson:
I really hope so.
It depends on the decisions that are made today and tomorrow by OEMs. There's the option that we move towards a world where cars become single-use, disposable assets.
At the moment, the majority of batteries are being replaced with new ones. That's not a sustainable strategy and it's not what EVs were supposed to be about.
01:27 Holly Mottram:
Welcome back to another episode of Talk Auto.
I'm Holly, and today we're joined by Ben Hurford, Aftersales Director at AION, and Antonia Stephenson, Director of Operations at EV Battery Solutions.
We're here to talk about building effective and efficient aftersales networks for electric vehicles.
01:40 Rich Price:
And I'm Rich.
We're going to dive straight into it.
Ben, AION is one of the newest OEMs to enter the UK market. You joined in May this year around the time of the launch. What's most important to you when establishing an aftersales programme?
02:06 Ben Hurford:
One of the primary considerations, certainly from an AION perspective, is that aftersales can often become an afterthought.
By its nature it comes after the sale, but at AION we've always viewed aftersales as a forward-thinking part of the business.
I joined the company at the same time as the rest of the management team, so we've had around eight months of planning. As a new brand, you're asking customers to take a leap of faith and buy into something unfamiliar. Because of that, it's incredibly important to have the right infrastructure around the vehicle.
Whether something is planned or unplanned, customers need to know you're there to support them.
It comes back to the old saying that sales sells the first car and aftersales sells every car after that.
For a new brand, that's particularly important because customers are taking a leap of faith. They need confidence that you'll support them.
At its most basic level, you need the right network partners. We've partnered with some highly credible experts in the market because simply putting a sign above a door isn't enough.
Your partners need the knowledge, experience and capability to support the product.
In aftersales there are three key pillars. You need technical capability, which is about people and diagnostics. You need the right parts in the right place at the right time. And you need strong network and service support partners to bring it all together.
03:27 Rich Price:
And some of that comes...
03:29 Holly Mottram:
Was that a conscious decision based on learning from other new brands that have entered the market and perhaps haven't always delivered a strong aftersales experience?
03:39 Ben Hurford:
Yes.
Having worked in the automotive industry for nearly twenty-five years, you learn what works and what doesn't.
You understand which approaches have been successful and which things you would do differently if given the opportunity.
When you're given a blank sheet of paper, you can combine experience with the opportunity to create something new.
For a new brand, it's critical to partner with experts.
We've partnered with DHL for parts logistics, the AA for roadside assistance and EV Battery Solutions to help build our battery repair capability.
It would have been easy to leave battery repair until later. You could argue that in the early years there will be very few battery failures.
But we're not building for today. We're building for the next fifty to one hundred years of establishing a successful brand in the market.
04:40 Holly Mottram:
Absolutely.
It's important to recognise the challenge facing newer OEMs compared with established manufacturers.
You've touched on it already, but could you explain in more detail how those challenges differ from previous roles where you've been working within mature networks?
05:05 Ben Hurford:
Before I answer that directly, it's worth remembering that customers don't see the different departments or functions within aftersales.
They simply expect one thing: if their vehicle needs attention, they expect it to be fixed.
Our job is to create a seamless customer journey.
Behind the scenes, everyone may be working extremely hard, like the swan paddling beneath the water, but the customer should only see a smooth and effortless experience.
The biggest difference between an established brand and a new entrant is that a new entrant starts without an ecosystem.
An established OEM may not be perfect, but it usually has processes and solutions for every eventuality.
As a new brand, you're starting with a blank sheet of paper and asking yourself what might happen across a vehicle's entire life cycle.
You're not planning for six months. You're planning for ten years or more.
You have to decide what problems need solving today and what problems need planning for now to avoid challenges five years from now.
That's one of the hardest parts of building a new aftersales operation.
06:07 Holly Mottram:
I suppose that's quite different from established OEMs because, in terms of your time in the UK market, AION is still very new. You can make predictions and carry out testing, but it's different once vehicles are actually out on UK roads and being used by customers.
06:27 Ben Hurford:
Absolutely.
We're fortunate because the AION brand sits within GAC, which is a well-established Chinese manufacturer. Last year alone, GAC built and sold around two million vehicles.
So we aren't a completely new manufacturer. We have proven vehicle data from other markets. What we didn't have was UK-specific data showing how these vehicles perform on UK roads with UK drivers.
That meant we had to make some assumptions.
One of my priorities when building the team was bringing in people with expertise. I had the opportunity not only to create the strategy but also to build the team from scratch.
I looked for people with specialist knowledge, but also individuals who understand how different functions work together. There are so many interconnected elements within aftersales that you need people who can see the bigger picture.
You don't want somebody designing a perfect solution for their own department if it creates problems elsewhere.
Customers don't see warranty, parts or technical departments. They simply see whether their vehicle is repaired and returned to them when expected.
Our job is to connect all those moving parts and deliver a seamless experience.
07:39 Rich Price:
Yeah.
07:40 Holly Mottram:
We've obviously got Antonia with us today, who leads EV Battery Solutions.
Is that where your business comes in, partnering with both new and established OEMs?
07:54 Antonia Stephenson:
Absolutely.
We're there to support OEMs at every stage of the vehicle life cycle.
The challenge is very different for new market entrants compared with established manufacturers. Existing brands already have infrastructure and processes in place. New entrants are building everything from the ground up.
A new OEM doesn't know exactly what sales volumes will look like. Established brands have confidence based on historical volumes and market presence.
That's why partnerships are so important across the EV industry.
Partnerships allow companies to access expertise and scale without investing huge amounts of money before their business has grown.
We work closely with OEMs to help design the battery element of their aftersales strategy because the battery is the most expensive and technically complex component in an EV.
It introduces challenges that the industry hasn't had to manage before, and every market is different.
Entering the UK is a very different experience compared with entering other markets because regulations, customer expectations and operating models vary significantly.
That's where specialist expertise becomes extremely valuable.
09:12 Ben Hurford:
Just to build on that, one of the biggest challenges for a new market entrant is predicting what parts will be needed and when.
That's been an area where we've been able to benefit from Antonia and her team's expertise.
The battery is the most expensive component within an EV and it's also one of the most technically complex.
If we look beyond cost and think about sustainability and vehicle longevity, simply replacing batteries whenever there's an issue isn't the right long-term strategy.
We've worked hard to understand the cultural differences between markets as well.
In China, there is often a stronger tendency to buy a new vehicle and replace it after a relatively short period of time.
In the UK, the used car market is incredibly important. Vehicles stay on the road for longer and pass through multiple owners.
We're not just solving for today's requirements.
In the first few years of a vehicle's life, replacing a battery might be appropriate. It might not be. You have to make the correct decision based on the circumstances.
Five or six years later, however, it becomes much harder to justify replacing a battery in a vehicle that may only be worth £10,000 if the battery itself represents a significant proportion of that value.
That's why we're investing now in understanding which components and capabilities we'll need in the future.
We're working with our parent company in China to make sure we can access those components when required and build a sustainable long-term strategy.
It would be easy to leave those decisions until later, but if we wait until the problem arrives, we'll already be too late.
Preparation is everything.
10:53 Holly Mottram:
I was going to ask about that.
You've worked for established OEMs and you've now moved to a pure EV brand rather than a manufacturer offering a mix of ICE and EV vehicles.
From an aftersales perspective, whether that's body repairs, parts planning or wider support services, is the planning process different when you're dealing exclusively with EVs?
11:19 Ben Hurford:
Yes, there are definitely differences.
Whether you're building a new EV brand or redesigning processes within a legacy manufacturer, you still have to think about the complete ecosystem that supports the customer.
As I've said before, customers don't see individual departments. They only see the end result.
With EVs, though, you need to think much more carefully about the components themselves because they are highly complex.
You're dealing with expensive high-voltage systems and advanced electrical architecture, so you need the right capabilities in place.
Many existing network partners already have strong technical expertise and are well equipped to maintain EVs. However, they don't always have the volume or repetition required to develop specialist battery repair expertise.
We touched on this before the recording started. There isn't one standard battery design used across every brand.
There are many battery manufacturers, all with different technologies and design philosophies.
We were speaking to somebody earlier who drives a four-year-old EV, and some of the characteristics of that vehicle simply don't exist in newer models because battery technology has evolved.
You're not only dealing with different battery manufacturers. You're also dealing with rapidly changing technology.
A battery being fitted to a new vehicle today may not even be produced in its current form three or four years from now.
That's why preparation is so important.
If we simply dispose of every battery we see today, we won't have the parts, knowledge or inventory to support vehicles tomorrow.
For manufacturers, it's a very complex puzzle to solve.
12:56 Antonia Stephenson:
It really is a huge challenge.
The workshop environment needed to repair EVs is very different from what's required for traditional ICE vehicles.
You have to consider the complexity of the components themselves, but also the safety requirements.
These are high-voltage batteries. They're live systems and must be handled safely.
You need isolation procedures, fire-risk management processes and specialist handling equipment.
Those aren't always topics people enjoy discussing, but they're very real considerations.
Even lifting a 500-kilogram battery safely requires specialist equipment that may not already exist within a dealership.
Then you need technicians who have been trained in highly specialised skills that are very different from traditional vehicle repair.
Diagnostics are increasingly electronic and the technology evolves rapidly.
A technician trained on today's battery technology may not automatically be qualified to work on tomorrow's battery systems.
That's a particular challenge when battery failures are relatively uncommon.
Generally speaking, battery failure rates are below 2%.
As a result, technicians aren't seeing batteries in workshops every day, which makes it harder to maintain skills, training and engagement.
All of this requires significant investment.
While a network may be able to manage current repair volumes, OEMs also need to think about larger-scale events such as recalls.
If a recall requires large numbers of batteries to be inspected or repaired, the infrastructure has to be capable of scaling up quickly.
Manufacturers have warranty obligations, regulatory obligations and increasing responsibilities under evolving legislation.
Repairing an EV is very different from repairing an ICE vehicle.
You can't simply switch from one to the other without significant investment in training, tooling and infrastructure.
15:14 Antonia Stephenson:
And, of course, specialist equipment as well.
15:18 Holly Mottram:
I think a lot of what we've discussed today centres around the gap between where we are now and where the industry is heading.
It's a rapidly evolving space for OEMs, partners, service networks and consumers alike.
One thing I'd like to touch on is the customer experience.
Ben, you mentioned earlier that customers don't see everything happening beneath the surface. Beyond the vehicle itself, how important are service and support in creating confidence in both EVs and new OEM brands?
15:18 Holly Mottram:
Yeah, I feel like quite a lot of what we've discussed is the difference between today and the future, and between today and five or ten years ago. It's such a rapidly evolving industry, and that applies to OEMs, partners, networks and consumers as well. That's something I wanted to touch on because, when we're talking about aftersales networks, as you mentioned, Ben, so much goes on underneath the surface, but it looks like a lovely swan floating across the water. So beyond the car itself, how does the service and support customers receive help them feel confident about purchasing from a new OEM, or even purchasing an EV in general?
15:56 Ben Hurford:
I think as a new OEM, whether you're bringing an ICE vehicle to market or an electric vehicle to market, the consumer expects that vehicle to perform to a certain standard. Everyone understands products have routine requirements and they expect you to service them efficiently, and people also understand that things can go wrong unexpectedly. I think their expectation is that when they need an intervention, you have the right knowledge, you speak to them empathetically, you deal with them efficiently and, ultimately, the consumer just wants to be back in that car and back on the road.
So you have to build that solution and make sure that whether it's a body repair, a technical repair or anything else, you've got the right support in place. Take body repair as an example. There are lots of proven, experienced body shops in the UK. We've got a new product that, on the surface, is broadly similar to many others, but there are some different characteristics. It's about making sure those characteristics are understood by your network.
What's super important as a new manufacturer in the market, especially when you're relatively small, is that you can't be too different. You have to fit into an ecosystem that operates every day. If you're an outlier doing everything differently, it becomes problematic.
One of the biggest costs of driving a vehicle, outside of purchasing it, is insurance. We work very closely with the insurance sector in the UK. Sometimes new OEMs, not through a lack of willingness but simply because they have so many things to do, can deprioritise areas like this. But if you don't have a good relationship with insurance providers and they're not confident in your product, that can have a detrimental impact on insurance costs.
If a consumer is comparing two vehicles that cost roughly the same per month but one costs half as much to insure, they're probably going to choose the vehicle with the lower insurance premium. So as a new brand, you have to think about much more than technical capability. You have to create confidence throughout the wider ecosystem, and that confidence comes from working with trusted partners.
17:49 Antonia Stephenson:
Yeah, I think to some extent having good aftersales is simply a requirement. It's bad aftersales that's going to cause you problems. Brand loyalty in EVs is lower than it is for ICE vehicles, so people are more open to trying different brands. We've got more OEMs putting cars on the market than we've ever had before.
We also know that people are using social media and AI to make purchasing decisions. Having good aftersales and not generating negative noise in public forums isn't necessarily going to win you business outright, but having poor aftersales, vehicles off the road and customers having bad experiences is where you're really going to struggle.
Having the infrastructure in place from day one is almost a hygiene factor for surviving in the industry, whether you're an existing brand or a new entrant. Loyalty isn't what it once was, and social media is becoming increasingly influential. The court of public opinion is taking control.
18:55 Holly Mottram:
Absolutely. You mentioned confidence amongst suppliers there, Ben, but that trickles down into confidence amongst consumers as well, doesn't it? That's so important when it comes to new market entrants.
Now Antonia, EV Battery Solutions has been operating in the UK for eighteen months and has over a decade of experience in mainland Europe. What's been one of your greatest learnings from that time?
19:17 Antonia Stephenson:
This may sound obvious, but there isn't one single EV battery repair solution.
It would have been easy to assume that the industry would evolve in a way that meant batteries were designed similarly, manufactured similarly, and ultimately converged into one standard solution. In that world, the repair process would be obvious and straightforward.
But that's the complete opposite of how the industry has evolved. It changes at such a rapid pace that we have to evolve with it.
Our customers aren't a single audience. We serve many different customers, all with competing priorities. An OEM is focused on warranty, residual values, scalability and brand reputation. The challenges facing a new OEM are very different from those facing an established one.
Battery manufacturers are more focused on diagnostics, battery performance and continuous improvement. Commercial fleets focus on vehicle downtime because if a vehicle isn't on the road, it isn't generating revenue. Passenger car fleets and dealers tend to focus on residual values and speed of service.
Because of these competing priorities, we've had to design our business to be flexible and align with the strategy of each customer. We flex our operating model, our diagnostic approach and even our commercial model to suit customers, whether they have one vehicle on the road or thousands.
The great thing is that every customer shares the same core priorities: safety, quality, performance and communication. Safety is the number one priority for us as an industry. We hold those principles at the core of everything we do and we don't compromise on them.
What's encouraging is that nobody in the industry has ever asked us to compromise on those areas. That's how you build trust as a supplier and how you build confidence in the aftersales market.
21:29 Rich Price:
One of the things you mentioned, which is encouraging, is that battery failure rates are relatively low. I think you said around 2%.
We also know from experience over the last five years that battery degradation has been significantly lower than many people originally anticipated.
How important is it to ensure that within the aftersales environment there is a clear EV battery solution in place should a failure occur?
Thinking about the fleets and leasing companies I work with, many of them run multi-brand operations. They're dealing with new market entrants and established brands, and as you've said, battery technology differs significantly from one manufacturer to another.
Given that there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, how important is it to have specialist support available through companies like EV Battery Solutions?
21:29 Rich Price:
One of the things you mentioned, which is encouraging, is that battery failure rates are relatively low. I think you said around 2%.
We also know from experience over the last five years that battery degradation has been significantly lower than many people originally anticipated.
How important is it to ensure that within the aftersales environment there is a clear EV battery solution in place should a failure occur?
Thinking about the fleets and leasing companies I work with, many of them run multi-brand operations. They're dealing with new market entrants and established brands, and as you've said, battery technology differs significantly from one manufacturer to another.
Given that there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, how important is it to have specialist support available through companies like EV Battery Solutions?
22:32 Ben Hurford:
Maybe I'll take that one.
We were talking earlier about repairs themselves, but I think an element that's often overlooked is battery performance while it's sitting in storage. Maintaining that performance is just as critical as carrying out the repair itself.
That's something we've discussed because, through our partnership with DHL, they actually introduced us to Antonia and the team. As an OEM, it would be very easy to bring batteries in and leave them on a shelf, but if they're not managed correctly, their long-term performance can be affected.
Fast forward nine to twelve months and that battery could deliver lower performance throughout its life than it would have done if it had been properly maintained.
As a new entrant, that's where working with a company like EV Battery Solutions has been hugely beneficial. We don't have the scale today. We have a relatively small vehicle parc, and if you take a very small percentage of a very small number, you end up with a very small number. You don't need to be a mathematician to work that one out.
If we had to build all those capabilities ourselves from scratch, it simply wouldn't be viable. The return on investment wouldn't make sense and our investors would rightly challenge that.
What companies like EV Battery Solutions offer is scalability. We're small today, but hopefully much larger in the future. As we grow, our requirements will grow as well. Whether we're sending two batteries a year or ten thousand batteries a year through the process, the solution still works.
23:49 Antonia Stephenson:
And it's that flexibility that's really important.
If you've got an established network and battery failure rates are low enough that the network can comfortably handle them, that's fantastic. We look to work with our customers in a complementary way alongside those dealer networks.
That flexibility also provides scale. If there's an event that suddenly creates high volumes, we're there to support that.
As we've discussed, the industry is moving incredibly quickly. The batteries manufactured a year ago may already no longer be in production. You have to prepare for what is coming next.
Having a solution in place from day one creates longevity for the battery. The total cost of ownership of a battery is a fundamental part of the used vehicle purchasing decision, and that total cost of ownership needs to reflect the value of the vehicle at the point it's being purchased.
We know vehicles depreciate over time. Putting a brand-new battery into a six-year-old car may not make financial sense. You have to think about how you'll solve those challenges in the future right now.
As Ben said, if you wait until those problems arrive, you're already too late. You need to consider the full lifecycle of the EV and the battery from day one, and decide how you want your brand to survive and thrive in the market.
25:21 Holly Mottram:
Fantastic conversation. Thank you very much. We're just going to take a short break.
25:29 Rich Price:
I'm excited about this because, in this month's episode, we're introducing a new segment: Hot Takes.
We're interested to know, Ben and Antonia, what are your hot takes right now?
25:42 Antonia Stephenson:
I don't know whether it's a hot take or not, but it's certainly an opinion I hold strongly.
I believe the battle for EV dominance is actually going to be won or lost in the used vehicle market and in the aftersales space.
To date, the focus has been on new car sales, meeting legislative requirements, increasing range, improving charging speeds and getting vehicles out onto the road.
As a result, manufacturing priorities have often driven decision-making, while sustainability hasn't always been at the forefront.
We've talked a lot about new market entrants today. Not all of those entrants, and not all of the existing brands, will survive in their current form. In my view, the brands that survive and thrive will be the ones that, in five or ten years' time, can keep their vehicles and batteries on the road at an affordable cost.
The battleground is shifting. The used market is going to become increasingly important, and that's where the industry's focus needs to move.
27:02 Holly Mottram:
Ben, you're nodding there. Does that mean you agree?
27:04 Ben Hurford:
I do agree. It would probably be controversial if I didn't.
The fact that AION made a conscious decision to work with EV Battery Solutions suggests we're already thinking along similar lines.
My own hot take is closely linked to what Antonia has just said. Long-term aftersales success isn't just about replacing components. It's about repairing them.
That might sound obvious, but delivering it is much more complicated.
Electric vehicles are fundamentally different. Many of our network partners provide excellent service and have done for years, but they're primarily geared towards ICE vehicles. As EV adoption grows, they'll have to balance support for both technologies.
Companies like EV Battery Solutions, and indeed ourselves as a fully electrified brand, can focus entirely on electric vehicles. We're not trying to balance two powertrain technologies at once.
That gives newer brands an opportunity to move ahead in certain areas because we can be extremely focused and specialised in what we're trying to achieve.
28:27 Rich Price:
One of the things Holly and I were discussing yesterday is that it's not unusual today to see ten, fifteen or even twenty-year-old ICE vehicles still on the road.
We obviously haven't had EVs around for that long yet. Some of the earliest EV manufacturers are only just reaching that ten-year mark.
But in ten years' time, are we going to see ten, twelve or fifteen-year-old EVs on the road in the same way we see older ICE vehicles today?
29:04 Antonia Stephenson:
I really hope so.
The answer depends on decisions OEMs make today and tomorrow and where they choose to place their priorities.
There is a possibility that we move into a world where vehicles become effectively disposable assets. We've seen similar trends in other industries.
As the focus has been on improving range and increasing new car sales, battery design has evolved in ways that have sometimes reduced repairability. Thankfully, we're beginning to see that trend start to reverse.
If we don't think now about how vehicles will be supported in five, ten or fifteen years' time, we won't have many options available later.
At the moment, the majority of batteries are effectively being discarded when relatively small issues occur and replaced with new units. That's not a sustainable strategy, and it's not what EVs were supposed to be about.
It's a little like scrapping an entire car because it needs a new tyre.
So yes, I absolutely hope we'll see ten and fifteen-year-old EVs on the road, but it will require proactive lifecycle management, supply chain planning and legislation that encourages a circular economy and repairability.
We're already starting to see that discussion in Europe. The UK is likely to follow. We're beginning to see requirements around battery health disclosures, expected service life and other transparency measures.
So yes, I really do hope that's the future.
31:05 Rich Price:
Sorry Holly.
31:08 Holly Mottram:
I was going to ask whether that question was actually your hot take, Rich, that EVs won't survive for twelve years.
31:14 Rich Price:
No, I don't have a view one way or the other.
What I was actually getting at is that when we talk about sustainability, the discussion often focuses on recycling. But your point seems to be that repairing and reusing batteries for their intended purpose is just as important, if not more important.
31:37 Antonia Stephenson:
Recycling sounds fantastic. It sounds environmentally friendly and it absolutely has a role to play when something has genuinely reached the end of its useful life.
But if you want to maximise the value of an asset and maximise the carbon invested in producing it, you need to keep it in use for as long as possible.
The way to achieve that is through repair, remanufacturing and reuse. Batteries can also have valuable second-life applications, such as static energy storage.
Recycling is absolutely the right answer when something becomes waste. It shouldn't automatically be the answer every time something breaks.
As we design batteries and vehicles, we need to keep that in mind.
You wouldn't scrap an entire vehicle because the windscreen was cracked. But that's effectively what we're doing with some batteries. We're scrapping them because we haven't fully considered how to repair them.
32:40 Ben Hurford:
I think legislation will definitely play an important role because it helps focus minds on the issue.
But there is also a strong business argument.
As an OEM, your profitability depends on having a healthy used vehicle market.
Manufacturers primarily make money through the sale of new vehicles and parts, but dealer partners generate significant revenue from used vehicle sales as well.
If you want a sustainable franchise model, you need a thriving used vehicle ecosystem.
Looking more broadly, independent workshops across the country employ thousands of people and many of those businesses rely on maintaining older vehicles.
If older vehicles effectively disappear because they become uneconomical to repair, it doesn't just affect OEMs and dealers. It affects the wider economy too.
Whether that's driven by regulation or by manufacturers taking a longer-term view, we have to find ways to make EVs sustainable beyond their first and second owners.
Will EVs still be on the road twenty years from now? Time will tell.
But just look at how far battery technology has come in the last decade.
When some of the earliest EVs launched, a hundred-mile range was considered outstanding. Today, a hundred miles may represent only a third of a battery charge.
If we're sitting here again in ten years' time, who knows what battery technology will look like?
Even battery manufacturers are still discovering what's possible because the technology is advancing so quickly.
That's what makes this such an interesting space. Not only are we developing vehicles, but we're also trying to work out how to maintain them economically and sustainably over the long term.
34:30 Holly Mottram:
Brilliant, thank you.
We've talked quite a lot about the used vehicle market and I'd like to explore that further.
Ben, AION has a very specific Great Eight policy that I'd like to discuss.
When building an EV aftersales capability, at what point should the used market be considered?
34:54 Ben Hurford:
For us, it was considered right from the beginning.
I'll explain Great Eight in a moment because it ties directly into long-term sustainability and consumer confidence.
For me, aftersales and the used vehicle market need to be considered from day one.
The UK market is incredibly competitive. Ten years ago there were probably fewer than forty brands operating here. Today there are more than seventy.
That's evidence that customers are becoming more willing to try new brands.
The Great Eight programme was designed to help us stand out.
It includes an eight-year warranty, which has become something of a hygiene factor in today's market, although ours is a comprehensive bumper-to-bumper warranty that remains with the vehicle and doesn't reduce over time.
We also provide eight years of servicing, eight years of roadside assistance and eight years of MOT test cover.
The servicing element gives consumers confidence that the vehicle will be maintained correctly throughout its life.
Roadside assistance provides reassurance should something go wrong later in the ownership cycle.
The MOT cover is particularly important because that's often the first point at which a customer leaves the manufacturer's network and begins using independent providers.
Once customers experience those alternatives, brands can start losing touch with them.
The idea behind Great Eight was to give customers confidence in both the product and our long-term commitment to supporting it.
At the same time, we want to keep customers within our ecosystem because that allows us to provide the best possible experience and maintain vehicles to the correct standard.
If something does go wrong with a more complex component, we know the vehicle is in the right hands.
36:52 Holly Mottram:
I suppose that also feeds directly into the used vehicle market.
If those cars are maintained properly throughout the first eight years of ownership, you would expect residual values to be stronger as well.
37:07 Ben Hurford:
Exactly.
It's public knowledge that our vehicles currently achieve some of the strongest residual values within the sector.
A lot of that is driven by the Great Eight proposition.
The companies that set residual values looked at our offer and saw real value in it.
If the first owner has a four-year finance agreement, the second owner could still inherit four years of warranty, four years of servicing, four years of roadside assistance and four years of MOT cover.
In some cases, that's a stronger proposition than buying a brand new vehicle from an established manufacturer.
It demonstrates how seriously we take the used vehicle market.
There are obvious financial benefits in terms of residual values, but there are also customer experience benefits.
Keeping customers within our network allows us to maintain vehicles correctly and build relationships with second and third owners, something many manufacturers struggle to achieve.
38:05 Holly Mottram:
And it's also about trust, isn't it?
We've talked a lot about confidence in new brands, confidence in EVs and confidence in support providers.
What I find particularly interesting is that this approach creates transparency around where the vehicle has been, how it has been maintained and who has worked on it throughout its life cycle.
38:28 Ben Hurford:
Absolutely.
Trust is incredibly important for a new brand.
Many consumers won't necessarily recognise GAC as a name, but last year the company sold around two million vehicles, primarily in China but also in other markets.
It was one of the first manufacturers to sell a million electric vehicles and is a top-five automotive manufacturer in China.
The company has also received multiple JD Power quality awards.
I'd say this whether I worked for the company or not, but the vehicles are genuinely high quality.
The Great Eight proposition helps demonstrate our confidence in that quality.
We're comfortable offering an eight-year warranty and eight years of servicing because we believe in the product.
That confidence then carries through into the used vehicle market as well.
39:13 Rich Price:
You actually answered my next question before I asked it.
AION is still very new in the market, so you haven't yet moved through a full ownership cycle.
Is the way Great Eight carries through from owner to owner unusual in the market?
Many manufacturers provide long battery warranties, but passing benefits such as servicing, roadside assistance and MOT cover to subsequent owners is different.
Is that something other manufacturers should be considering?
39:49 Ben Hurford:
Every brand has its own strategy, so it's probably not for me to say what others should or shouldn't be doing.
Each manufacturer has a certain amount of budget available to support vehicle sales.
Some choose to invest that through discounts or finance support packages.
We've chosen to invest some of that support into the ownership experience.
We believe it gives customers confidence in the brand and the product.
It helps support residual values and, importantly, helps us maintain a relationship with customers throughout the life of the vehicle.
For AION, we think it's the right approach.
40:31 Antonia Stephenson:
Residual value is absolutely key to the second- and third-owner market.
Ultimately, it all comes back to total cost of ownership.
Buyers want certainty around future costs and support, and that certainty strengthens confidence.
There was a lot of negative media coverage around EVs in the early days and some of that continues today.
People would often say, "I'll only buy a new EV because it's under warranty and I can hand it back if something goes wrong."
That perception still exists to some extent.
Having confidence that there is a repair solution and a route to keeping the vehicle on the road is hugely important for used buyers.
Those solutions help build trust in the second-hand market.
Once more people start buying used EVs, confidence grows naturally. People see friends and colleagues buying them successfully, which encourages wider adoption. Battery warranties already demonstrate how robust these products are. Modern EV batteries are capable of lasting eight years and well beyond that. The challenge is making sure consumers recognise and trust that reality. Anything that increases confidence in the used EV buying journey is a positive step forward.
42:33 Rich Price:
With that in mind, and considering how much range and battery technology have improved, what more can be done to build consumer confidence?
We've had range anxiety, charge anxiety and all the concerns that came with early EV adoption. What more can the industry do now?
42:59 Ben Hurford:
I think we've probably overemphasised range anxiety in recent years.
It then became charge anxiety, but most modern EVs have addressed those concerns. Vehicles can travel significant distances and can be charged very quickly.
Where we're heading now is a different challenge.
Most consumers haven't yet experienced owning an EV outside of its battery warranty because there are still relatively few vehicles that old on the road.
As Antonia mentioned earlier, social media is a very powerful influence, both positively and negatively.
It won't be long before vehicles enter their ninth or tenth year of life and some of them inevitably experience battery-related issues.
If we don't have repair solutions in place by then, those vehicles could effectively become uneconomical to repair because the cost of a replacement battery may exceed the value of the vehicle itself.
That's why we're preparing now for future challenges.
As a new brand, it would be easy to say that we're many years away from those problems, but battery technology is moving incredibly quickly.
If we don't start building repair capability now around the batteries going into vehicles today, we'll be behind the curve when those vehicles become eight years old.
We're trying to solve problems before customers experience them.
44:12 Antonia Stephenson:
It's too late to solve this problem once it arrives.
When we're talking about used vehicles, we also need to start talking about used batteries.
New batteries are expensive. We all know that.
Once a battery has gone out of production, you also have the challenge of availability. You might not even be able to source one, regardless of cost.
However, if approved used batteries and refurbished batteries are available, suddenly there is a financially viable solution for older vehicles.
Consumers can understand that model because it already exists in other parts of the automotive sector.
The insurance industry is also paying close attention to repairability, network capability and parts availability.
That information is becoming far more visible through social media and other public channels.
If customers struggle to insure a vehicle because appropriate repair solutions don't exist, that creates a serious problem for a brand.
Likewise, if used vehicles don't retain residual value, it becomes increasingly difficult to support new vehicle sales.
That's why manufacturers need to be thinking about these issues now and preparing before parts and batteries disappear from production.
At the moment, the majority of batteries are still being recycled, and that creates long-term challenges for the future vehicle parc.
45:51 Ben Hurford:
The insurance point is incredibly important.
As a new brand, we have to partner with established organisations to build confidence throughout the wider ecosystem.
One of the first questions we're asked is about our parts strategy.
When we explain that we're working with DHL and have developed stockholding plans alongside the manufacturer, people immediately gain confidence.
Another question insurers asked very early on was about battery repair.
They wanted to understand our approach to battery damage, such as damage caused by impacts underneath the vehicle, and how we planned to manage repairability.
When I explained that we were working with EV Battery Solutions, the conversation largely ended there.
Even though we were still developing the full end-to-end process, the fact that we had identified the challenge, selected a partner and created a plan gave them confidence.
The key message is preparation.
Battery repair isn't a major issue for us today because our vehicle parc is still relatively small.
But if we don't plan today, it will absolutely become a major issue in the future.
47:10 Antonia Stephenson:
We already see examples of this with some customers.
They have older battery platforms where replacement parts are no longer available or where complete batteries can no longer be sourced.
What happens then?
That's where we work closely with manufacturers to develop solutions that keep those vehicles on the road.
OEMs have significant obligations regarding vehicle support and repairability.
Topics such as the right to repair continue to gain momentum.
Consumers increasingly expect access to repairs and spare parts throughout a vehicle's life.
Those conversations are becoming more important every year.
The manufacturers who are thinking about these issues today are the ones most likely to have ten and fifteen-year-old EVs still on the road tomorrow.
48:02 Rich Price:
Do you think part of the answer is making battery health easier for consumers to understand?
There are already solutions that plug into the OBD port and businesses such as EV Battery Solutions can assess battery condition through diagnostics.
But today I can't simply look at my vehicle and see that my battery is operating at 94% health in the same way I can check the health of a smartphone battery.
Would greater visibility help improve consumer confidence?
48:34 Ben Hurford:
Potentially, yes.
Most OEMs already have the ability to assess battery health through diagnostic tools. The challenge is that information isn't always visible directly to customers.
Consumers can make some assumptions today.
If they know the original WLTP range and compare it with the range being displayed after a full charge, they can get some indication of how the battery is performing.
Over time, it's natural for maximum range to reduce slightly.
Smartphones have certainly helped educate consumers about battery health.
People are increasingly aware that things like charging habits can influence battery longevity.
For example, charging to around 80% rather than 100% whenever possible can help preserve long-term battery health if the additional range isn't required.
A few years ago that wasn't common knowledge.
Likewise, drivers who rely heavily on rapid charging may see different long-term outcomes compared with those who primarily use slower charging methods.
Consumers are more informed than they were before.
Manufacturers are more informed.
The wider supply chain is more informed.
Overall, we're in a much stronger position than we were several years ago.
49:47 Antonia Stephenson:
Battery health has become one of the most important considerations for used EV buyers.
It's almost become a buzzword in the market.
The new battery passports being introduced through European legislation, and increasingly adopted in the UK, will help improve transparency.
Whenever a battery is serviced or undergoes significant work, battery health information will need to be recorded within that passport.
Battery health is hugely important because it helps consumers understand how a vehicle has been used and how much performance remains available.
We're already seeing a direct correlation between battery health scores and vehicle values in the used market.
Consumers clearly associate stronger battery health with higher value.
When people buy an EV, one of their biggest questions is simple: how long is the battery going to last?
Battery health is currently the main indicator they use to answer that question.
However, it does need to be standardised.
Different methods of calculating battery health can produce different results and consumers need consistency if they're going to compare vehicles properly.
It's also important to maintain realistic expectations.
If you're buying a ten-year-old vehicle, you shouldn't necessarily expect it to have 95% battery health.
That's not realistic.
Equally, there may be opportunities to improve the vehicle through refurbishment or replacement batteries if that makes economic sense.
Battery health will continue to be one of the most important factors affecting used EV purchasing decisions.
51:44 Holly Mottram:
We've covered so many interesting topics today, so thank you both for joining us.
I'd like to finish with one final question.
What's one thing you wish more people understood about EV aftersales?
Ben, let's start with you.
52:01 Ben Hurford:
For me, it's repairability.
We've talked about it throughout the conversation and I think many people still see it as a challenge for tomorrow rather than a challenge for today.
The key is preparation.
If you start preparing now, you'll be ready when the future arrives.
If you wait until the problem appears, it'll be much harder to respond effectively.
52:18 Holly Mottram:
Absolutely.
52:19 Antonia Stephenson:
Mine is very similar.
Most batteries are repairable in some form.
The design of a battery has a significant impact on how repairable it is, and in recent years the focus on increasing range has sometimes reduced repairability.
I think we need to move back towards considering both.
Most batteries contain elements that can be repaired.
Recycling has an important role to play once a battery genuinely reaches end of life.
But we need to reduce the number of batteries being recycled simply because a relatively minor fault has occurred.
52:57 Holly Mottram:
So repair, repair, repair seems to be the theme of this month's podcast.
Thank you both so much for joining us today. It's been a fantastic conversation.
53:11 Holly Mottram:
Thanks for tuning in to this month's episode of Talk Auto.
As always, you'll find our email address in the show notes if you'd like to get in touch or suggest a future topic for the podcast.
53:19 Rich Price:
Don't forget to follow us wherever you get your podcasts, and you can also watch this episode on the Cox Automotive YouTube channel.
53:24 Holly Mottram:
Thanks for listening and we'll see you next month for another episode of Talk Auto.