Diagnosing an EV traction battery’s state of health made easy by AVILOO

We can expect the market for used electric vehicles especially, and plug-in hybrids to a lesser extent, to expand substantially if projections based on current growth figures are anything to go by.

That holds its own set of problems, not least the state of the batteries. We have news on that front for the likes of both franchise and independent dealerships and their customers, which should allay many fears.

It comes as more than 20,000 new EVs have been registered this year, a 37pc increase on the corresponding period last year. And PHEVs continue to pick up buyers.

Even allowing for poor numbers last year due to, among other factors, a lack of customer interest in the face of high new EV prices, a 37pc rise has to be taken as potentially the strongest indication to date that customers are turning to electric. Sales have now recovered to 2023 levels.

Obviously the more new EVs that are bought, the more secondhand versions that will come onto the market.

In the short-term a high proportion of trade-ins will have internal combustion engines (ICE). But with EVs outstripping diesels for the first time it is obvious that a higher proportion of used sales will be EV and PHEV as the years roll on.

That raises potential difficulties, and opportunities for outlets attempting to keep used EVs, and to a lesser degree PHEVs, moving while making an acceptable margin.

Their biggest worry is the state of the EV vehicle’s traction battery given that it is the single largest, and most expensive item to replace – and can be the most expensive to repair.

Now, a partnership between Irish-based NVD vehicle distribution company and Austrian battery diagnostics firm AVILOO, aims to tackle the battery issue head on.

How? By providing a simple, and to my eyes, straightforward test/analysis of the vehicle’s traction battery.

Perhaps it is best explained by taking an example.

Say a customer wants a check carried out on their battery before they buy or sell a car. The customer calls NVD, who will give the name and address of the nearest franchise or independent dealership that has the AVILOO equipment required to carry out the test.

At the dealership, it’s a matter of plugging in a diagnostic unit to the vehicle’s OBD port and in no time (it seemed to me) a full report with a certificate of the car’s state of health (SOH) was printed out, detailing loads of data which can even be sent to your phone or laptop.

The SOH cert includes the battery management system, sensor, cell voltages, vehicle communication, how the vehicle fares when posited against comparable cars etc.

Unlike ‘others’ in the business AVILOO provides a calculation battery’s SOH independently as opposed to reading values from the battery management systems (BMS).

Two used cars, an EV and a PHEV were used in testing at a special launch in Kill, Co Kildare recently. The demonstration and explanations were designed to help and support those who buy, sell, operate, repair, lease, rent, estimate or insure EVs.

Critically, an outlet with the AVILOO facility could also generate an additional revenue stream from providing the test to the general public, as well as having the AVILOO SOH certificate on display on all used cars they are selling.

At the launch, they could see how quickly battery SOH could be published. There was widespread discussion and specific questions which included:

• The inherent and growing value and use of a €500 annual subscription,
• The idea of possibly making a SOH a cert mandatory for NCT compliance.

The huge number of questions for Mr Millinger indicated just how important the issue of used EV and PHEV battery SOH has become for dealerships, and is likely to be for some time. Incidentally it doesn’t matter if a car is fully charged when being tested.

One of the two vehicles tested and published for State of Health (SOH) was a Mercedes EQC 400 – 85kWh. It was found to be 97.8pc; it scored much higher than the average figure for this model. It had 37,928kms on the clock.

The other car tested was a BMW 5-series plug-in -12kWh – with 65,357kms on the clock. It had an SOH of 91.5 percent. The data showed it was a little below average. They get that last figure from analysis of a full database on a car when benchmarking.

In the case of PHEVs like the BMW, they show the latest range estimate too. In the case of the tested car, it went from 43kms/56kms to 47kms/61kms. The state of charge (SOC) is another element shown. The BMW had just 2 per cent.

Operators could offer three tiers of recommended pricing to retail customers for the service: Customers can ask for the Flash test, which costs €35, Premium (€45) and Expert (€75) The latter is rarely used.

It provides a good retail opportunity for a workshop or an aftersales department; not to mention the beneficial impact on sale and safety. That is in addition to the aforementioned sales benefit for all a franchise or independent dealers used electric vehicles stock.

Gerry Madden of NVD was keen to stress the importance of dealers ensuring the AVILOO diagnostic unit is left permanently in the sales showroom and not in the workshop.” It’s a critical risk management tool that should be used by the car sales team on every EV or PHEV before being accepted as a used vehicle trade-in”.

He added: “Taking in any EV or PHEV without an AVILOO SOH test is high risk and could result in significant costs to the dealership if any potential problems are not identified before a trade in is accepted. From the customers perspective, It also provides huge reassurance when they can see an AVILOO certificate in the vehicle, providing verifiable proof that the vehicle’s battery has been tested and is in excellent condition for the age and mileage of the vehicle.”

Electric vehicle industry expert, Alex Millinger, Senior Sales Manager AVILOO, was the man facing most of the questions.

The core message he brought was: an EV can generate a better price and sell more quickly if it has a certificate.

He took us through the many ways the new system helps to increase EV sales, cut financial and residual risk all because a garage can give “independent reassurance” to customers.

The AVILOO test delivers a SOH certificate within approximately five minutes, on any make or model of EV or PHEV currently available in the Irish market.

Mr Millinger revealed that a battery can be shown to be 81 per cent efficient but that could easily be 90 per cent “after the true test has been carried out”.

There was a bit of advice for buyers to maintain a battery at optimum is not to charge it to 100 per cent; maybe circa 90 per cent would be best.

Interesting to hear how a car with 90 cells can be individually tested and the AVILOO system can ‘rebalance’ the battery.

He added the obvious but ultimately the most important fact: “If a car has an AVILOO certificate, it can lead to a quicker sale and a better price” That’s the kind of talk the industry wants to hear.

Safety is paramount too, of course, and Mr Millinger says it is possible for a car to be showing 100 per cent but when diagnosed it could be as low as 61 per cent.

In Ireland discussions are under way for an EV battery repair centre to be established which could link in and effectively square the circle from test result to problem solving.

However, that is likely to be some time down the road – 18 months or so, it is estimated.

By then we can expect a much larger number of used EVs to be on the market, with at least one way to assess their battery health and take a large chunk of the gamble out of selling or buying.

For AVILOO inquiries contact Gerry Madden at NVD on 086 8151829 or gerry.madden@nvd.ie