Bovag: State of Health certificate should provide more certainty for used EVs

The garage owners’ association has started an investigation into the supply of diagnostic equipment that can provide buyers of a used electric car with clarity about the exact condition of the battery, the so-called State of Health (SoH). On this basis, Bovag wants to offer even more certainty to consumers by adding an independent SoH statement from one of those suppliers of diagnostic equipment to the used car.

Deadly serious costs

Even with a used car with a fossil fuel engine, you cannot look through the engine to see what condition it is in, but if something goes wrong, it will never cost as much money as a new battery pack for an EV. So it is high time to specifically provide more certainty for that most expensive part of ‘our future used car’.

Form of certification?

Bovag spokesperson Paul de Waal: “We are currently investigating six existing universal battery checks that are now on the market. How good are they? What do they say? How does their outcome compare with the manufacturer’s battery check? Once that research is completed, we will see what we can do with the results. That could be a form of certification or recommendation. The expectation is that we will achieve this during the course of this year.”

Also internationally

Aviloo is one of the suppliers of diagnostic equipment on the Bovag list. The Austrian company is a major player on the market. The call for a thorough, transparent and independent SoH test (i.e. not from the manufacturer itself) is also happening abroad and they are already a step further there, we hear from Dr. Marcus Berger, the CEO of Aviloo. “We have set up a project together with Hyundai Germany and mobile.de where consumers on mobile.de can also filter by ‘including battery certificate’. This will happen everywhere,” says Berger, who indicates that Aviloo is ‘at the table’ in several countries to achieve standard certification. It is simply desperately needed, according to the CEO. “A recent study by the renowned Deutsche Automobil Treuhand (DAT) shows that more than seventy percent of EV buyers see an independent battery certificate as a very important argument for buying a used EV.”

The CEO of Aviloo expects that within a year it will become difficult to sell a used EV without a SoH certificate. “But we could still go a little faster,” says Berger,

Horror scenario during replacement

Anyone who buys a used EV with a battery pack that is actually worn out is in serious trouble. It is possible to renew parts of the package, but that is a short-term solution. If a little later the next cell, which is just as old, also needs to be replaced, you can start over. A completely new package is therefore the only logical solution. Count on an amount that varies from 14,000 to 20,000 euros, depending on the battery pack and car. The installation time can also vary widely, from an hour to days.