EV fault diagnosis could prove lucrative

A study of dealer management system data in the United States has found that repairs to electrified vehicles are so far proving more lucrative than originally predicted, the aggregated results suggesting EV parts and labour invoices tend to double those for conventional vehicles.

The most frequent EV issues were electronic controller, high-voltage battery, charger/cable and battery contacts, according to the study, which was carried out as part of a report into automotive warranty and service costs by data science firm WePredict.

Although many replacement parts for EVs are still highly complex, specialised and expensive, it was the diagnosis time that pumped up the invoices according to WePredict vice president Renee Stephens.

“EVs require service technicians to spend much more time figuring out what is going wrong. They are on the phone more with the manufacturer. They are on more test drives,” she told Wards Auto.

Stephens said the repair order reports written by EV technicians were sometimes more than 1000 words long and described the phenomenon as “part of an industry learning curve” that was proven by established electric models such as the Nissan Leaf showing lower service costs and repair requirements compared with those that had been more recently introduced.