From the Magazine: The developing EV market

James Carter is a big believer in electric vehicles. From the great technology it offers to the reduced emissions and environmental benefits, Carter looks forward to the day when the Canadian car parc — and the global one — are fully electrified.

If the Toronto-based principal consultant at Vision Mobility isn’t speaking in front of an audience, he’s sharing the message on LinkedIn. He’s regularly combating myths and pointing out facts that some choose to ignore or are unaware of.

For example, he recently mentioned how there was a time when many people couldn’t find a mine they didn’t like. That is, until it came to electric vehicles. Now some people find mining evil and damaging to the environment.

“The truth is, we mine vast amounts of minerals every day, and in effect, it drives today’s society,” he said in the post.

He sees EVs as the future of mobility. “Buying a combustion vehicle today is like building a horse barn in 1910,” he observed in another post.

That doesn’t mean everything is perfect in the world of EVs. Carter also wrote about his experience using a public charger — after some waiting around and trying to figure out what was going on, he learned the charger was out of service. And he was stuck with a bill for attempting to plug in but not receiving any charge.

There are real challenges to getting widespread EV adoption. But there are opportunities. EV World sat down with Carter recently to talk about all the issues around vehicle electrification. From charging to consumer habits to aftermarket implications to “negative hyperbole” from the naysayers, the conversation was wide-ranging. What follows is a condensed version of the conversation, edited for length and clarity.

EVW: Is charging still the top consumer issue for EVs?

JC: In some ways, yes, infrastructure is the challenge. But people need to think about their use case scenario. What are they using their car for? How do they use their car?

One thing that we do know is that more than 85 per cent of charging is done at home. So making sure that you’ve got good home charging is important. So if you’ve got a single residential home you can park in the driveway, park in your garage, get a charger out there — no problem.

I think where it becomes a little bit more stressful is when people have townhouses, they only have street parking or they’re in a condo that doesn’t have charging.

And they are issues — they’re real issues that are real barriers to EV ownership.

I think where it becomes a little bit more stressful is when people have townhouses, they only have street parking or they’re in a condo that doesn’t have charging.

EVW: Is public charging a viable option for those who can’t do it at home?

JC: Basically, there are two worlds out there: If you own a Tesla, then, frankly, you’re pretty well covered. Don’t worry about it. If you don’t, then it’s a little bit more tricky because we’ve seen things like charger unreliability, we’ve seen things like lack of speed of charges and lack of amount of charges that are actually out there.

(Editor’s note: Since our interview, Ford and GM have signed up with Tesla to use their charging network. Until vehicles are produced with the proper connectors, vehicle owners can use an adapter to charge their Ford and GM vehicles at a Tesla station. Meanwhile, seven automakers announced a partnership to create a unified charging network to challenge Tesla.)

There’s more: Listen to more from James Carter as part of the Enhanced Media segment of the Fall EV World issue.

EVW: Range is a concern. People say they want to drive long distances without fear of not being able to find a charger. For example, they want to drive to their cottage but don’t feel the range will be enough to get them there or that they can’t charge it at the cottage for the return trip. How does this get alleviated?

JC: People need to apply the available range to their actual life needs. Are they thinking about their commute that’s 40 km per day? Or do they want to make a day trip someplace — and can see there are charging options wherever they want to go?

So I think there’s more of an awareness that, actually, electric vehicles really can fit in with people’s lives today. So there’s that change of realization happening.

However, some use cases are going to be more tricky, even on light-duty vehicles. If someone’s regularly towing a 30-foot trailer caravan behind their pickup truck, that’s going to be a harder use case. But I think people cite those examples too often, rather than the amount of the actual usage. People will say things like, ‘What if I want to drive to Kapuskasing [a Northern Ontario town more than 800 km away from Toronto]?’ When was the last time you drove to Kapuskasing? ‘Well, you know, you never know, I might’ [is their typical response].

You can still make the drive. It just may take longer when accounting for stops to charge up.

EVW: There have been complaints about EV knowledge on the repair side — both at the dealer and independent aftermarket. Most EVs on the road are still under warranty. But what happens as they move out of that window?

JC: I think this part of the industry is still really developing, and it’s still early. Shops are just not seeing those people that are coming in simply because there are not many of them out of warranty. But I think you’ll start to see specialist centres develop. I think these things will start to happen.

Shops are just not seeing those people that are coming in simply because there are not many of them out of warranty.

EVW: How much does right to repair fit in all of this?

JC: I think that’s one of the questions we have to ask ourselves: What happens with things like right to repair? Ford, GM and Tesla are notorious for pushing back on things like that. And I think that’s a real question that hasn’t been answered yet and needs to be answered. And, I think, going on from this is the part about over-the-air updates and what’s going to happen with those sorts of things. I think that provides a real challenge for the right to repair cycle.

Right to repair is going to be just as important with EVs as it was with ICE. Sure, there’s less maintenance, there’s less repair, there’s less stuff and things that break — we know that — but there are still things that will break. We still know that the batteries will eventually degrade; we still know that they will eventually need some sort of refurbishment or replacement or something. And the aftermarket should be in a position to be able to handle that.

This is a really important thing. And really, it’s only been a very narrow thing today. I really think it’s important, at least for [the] automotive aftermarket to really jump on this because I think there’s a big opportunity.

EVW: It’s been said the used EV market will dictate success for the aftermarket. How can the aftermarket prepare?

JC: We know that the battery has some sort of degradation problem. And that happens both on a usage and time basis. So there are two factors: How many kilometres and how old the vehicle is, just like you would look at a used car. So they age by that standard. Once they’re out of warranty, you’re kind of on your own. But you don’t want to replace that $20,000 battery — there’s got to be some way to fix it up or refurbish it or buy a refurbished one to replace it.

Just like we see with transmissions or engines — you pull them out, stick a new refurbished one in and that one gets refurbished that goes on to the next car. And I think we’ll see things like this happen.

This is still very much in an early stage. What we have seen though, is some companies start what I would call battery triage.

If a vehicle is at the end of its life, there are three basic options: If that battery’s still pretty good, or at least usable, you can use it for a second life that might include on-site energy storage for a large building. The second one would be refurbishment, and the third one would be to chuck it. But you don’t chuck it, you can send it to be recycled because there are a lot of expensive minerals within those batteries. So they’re still worth money.

I really think it’s important, at least for [the] automotive aftermarket to really jump on this because I think there’s a big opportunity.

EVW: Responses to electrification stories on EV World’s online portal AutoServiceWorld.com span the spectrum from some positive to a bit of negative. On the negative side, readers have railed against a lack of education, infrastructure costs, lack of interest, they’re being rushed and more. Why is there such a negative response from some?

JC: I think there’s a bit of negative hyperbole there. But I’m not sure that, typically, new car buyers really think about all of those things.

They concern themselves with how much it’s going to cost to buy, to run, do they like the car, is it cool, does it fit their needs and things like that.

They’ll ask questions about the battery and battery replacement, and that’s a fairly normal type of conversation. If they’re leasing, then they’re not asking.

But from a new car buyer’s side, you see an eight-year, 160,000-km warranty attached with that battery. I think the issue for you is what happens once they sell that car, or [it’s the] second or third or the fourth owner and it’s out of warranty, then what happens?

I think there are a few things to understand. First, remember that it’s still a car. So car stuff still breaks; it still needs maintenance.

EVW: What advice do you have for the automotive aftermarket in preparation for electric vehicles?

JC: I think there are a few things to understand. First, remember that it’s still a car. So car stuff still breaks; it still needs maintenance. So I think that’s the first thing.

The second thing is, understand what your opportunity is within electric vehicles. The big one really is batteries. So think about how you can be part of that triage system as it were — what are the things that can be done with that? I think that’s an important thing.

I would say another thing is, start exploring opportunities a little bit beyond what you would traditionally do within your service [offerings]. Customers typically would come in quarterly, or half-yearly for an oil change, and you get to touch base with that customer. So you see how that vehicle’s going, what they need to do — this ain’t going to happen anymore.

You’ve got to think about how you keep in touch with that customer. And make sure that you’re somewhat proactive about its maintenance needs as well. And identifying what those maintenance needs are. Identify what really is important with the needs of these vehicles and talk to customers about that.

This article appeared in the Fall issue of EV World