10:13 am, May 22, 2025
Car dealers risk being lumbered with tough to shift stock if they fail to check the battery health of EVs before taking them on.
That is the verdict of one expert, who says that retail groups are now beginning to incorporate the checks into the part-exchange process.
Oliver Phillpott runs Generational, an EV battery certification service for car dealers, which he says is protecting retailers against potentially high costs.
Phillpott was the latest guest to join us on the Car Dealer Podcast, where he explained how simple checks can benefit dealers and consumers alike.
He said: ‘I think when it comes to buying a used EV, some people have a concern that they’re buying this battery – this big expensive thing – that might then go wrong and leave them with a big bill down the line, and you’ve got a car that doesn’t work on top of that.
‘The battery might be 40% of the cost of the car when it’s new, it’s a big expensive bit of kit.
‘I think it helps give those people the information they need and a bit of reassurance that they’re buying a good car.’
Speaking with hosts James Baggott and Jon Reay, Phillpott said that cases of EVs having poor battery health are rarer than most people think.
However, he admitted that when ‘anomalies’ do slip through the net, it is becoming increasingly tricky for retailers to move the cars on via alternative channels.
He added: ‘I think that’s where some of our dealer groups increasingly want to build this into the part-exchange process.
‘Obviously, it’s a great source of stock, but I would say a small, single-digit percentage – you’re talking lower than 2% or 3% of cars – have battery health lower than 70%. But it does happen, they are anomalies.
‘We had a customer who tests all their batteries, recently took on 100,000 mile vehicle. I won’t say what OEM is from but it was out of warranty.
‘That battery had a battery health in the mid 40 percents and would only do 35 miles on a full charge. That is an anomaly but that car is now quite hard to sell if your business depends on turning stock quickly.
‘It just slipped through the net, they just didn’t test it at the time, real life happens but increasingly, with auctions starting to test batteries it’s harder to then push that vehicle into other channels and just to try and dispose of it.
‘The vast majority of results are much better than people expect, I think.’
The Car Dealer Podcast, sponsored by Carwow, sees an industry guest join our hosts to discuss the motor trade’s biggest headlines of every week.
A full list of the stories discussed on this week’s episode can be found here.
You can listen to all episodes of the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, or play the video above.
