Bodyshops ‘unprepared’ for surging EV sales
Bodyshops have been warned they may not be as EV-prepared as they believe.
The demand for electric vehicles has surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, bucking the downward trend for petrol and diesel vehicles. Meanwhile, the government is considering bringing forward it’s ban of the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles to 2030, meaning there would be even more EVs on UK roads.
It is expected that about one in 10 new cars sold in Europe this year will be electric, a three-fold increase on 2019, while EV sales in August despite the overall market declining by five per cent.
Many bodyshops have tried to stay ahead of the curve by ensuring a handful of their technicians are EV trained, but a leading training provider suggests that may not be enough.
Rob Ward, founder of IMI-approved training centre RWC Training in Milton Keynes, said: “I think most repairers in the UK are doing what they can, but ultimately they’ll need to look at changing their workshops. When a workshop has 50-70% electric vehicles, then the dynamics of that workshop will have to change in terms of how those vehicles are moved around the workshop, who works on them and how.”
He added: “Typically we see bodyshops with one or two technicians who are EV trained, but they might have eight MET technicians. That ratio will have to change and those with just one or two EV technicians may not be as EV-ready as they think.”
