Critical minerals driving EV performance: a consumer Guide to EV batteries - Part 2

As electric vehicles reshape the automotive landscape, this article explores the most pressing questions shaping how EVs are sold, serviced, and understood.

What kinds of training do dealers get for servicing and selling electric vehicles?

Dealers receive direct manufacturer support on their EV products, which includes understanding battery technology, range, charging times and efficiency. Manufacturers also provide extensive training on addressing customer questions about EV ownership, explaining government incentives and providing information about environmental benefits. After the initial training, dealers receive ongoing support through manufacturer online training portals, webinars and certifications.

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz, for example, has a Training Academy that is integral to its electric future. On the sales/retail side, the automaker offers various training formats, including virtual, eLearning, and face-to-face. The topics include the differences between electric engines and internal combustion engines, security, technology, customer profiles, and vehicle features.

In the Mercedes-Benz experiential trainings, the automaker offers both on- and off-road driving to ensure its dealer partners have an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of its electric vehicles. On the technical side, Mercedes-Benz also provides a range of training to its technicians to qualify them to maintain the automakers' electric vehicles. This training path includes fundamentals of electric vehicles, diagnostic strategy, technology-specific courses.

Hyundai Motor Co.

Hyundai Motor Co. is another automaker that has launched a specific program to train professional maintenance personnel for its electrified future, and it maintains the Hyundai Electric Vehicle Master Certification Program (HMCPe), which provides courses such as "Electrified Vehicle Basic" and "Advanced Customer Service for Electrified Vehicles." Additionally, with its new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) in Georgia, Hyundai is partnering with local technical colleges to provide the Electrical Vehicle Professional (EVP) certification to prepare individuals for entry-level positions dealing with EV production, technology, and safety.

National Automobile Dealers Association

Additionally, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), in conjunction with the Center for Sustainable Energy, have launched a dealer certification program, which focuses on helping dealers both better understand and better sell electric vehicles. The certification helps dealers understand the types of EV buyers and their concerns, as well as create strategies to help buyers overcome fears.

Other resources offered through the NADA include dealer guides to not only selling EVs but also handling new and used batteries outside of the vehicle. This includes having effective climate control, maintaining the appropriate fire prevention and controls within the dealership, installing sand pits to control a potential thermal runaway¹ event and using battery cyclers to analyze battery capacity and efficiency.

What questions are buyers asking when shopping for EVs?

Charging costs

According to the NADA's "A Dealer Guide to Electric Vehicles," the cost to "fuel" an EV is one of the biggest questions potential buyers ask. As an answer, this guide points to a study done by the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Idaho National Laboratory, which shows the electricity required to run an EV over a 15-year period could be $14,500 less than fueling a similar gasoline vehicle.

Longevity

Once buyers get beyond their immediate concerns, they start to think about the longevity of the vehicle and how long a battery will hold its charge. As the NADA points out, the Union of Concerned Scientists states passenger EVs will likely lose 12% to 15% of their range during their lifetime. So, an EV with a 250-mile (402-kilometer) range can be expected to have 150 to 200 miles (241 to 322 kilometers) of range after 12 years. To combat the fear of unexpected degradation or complete battery failure, EV batteries have warranty coverage for at least 8 years or 100,000 miles (160,934 kilometers) in the United States. Most automakers will provide degradation coverage to at least 60%.

Safety

Finally, another big question people ask is about the safety of electric vehicles. Even though EVs are still a relatively new technology in vehicular history, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has been performing crash tests on EVs since 2011. Additionally, the IIHS looks for thermal runaway as well as performs an electrical isolation test, which ascertains that power to the battery has been disconnected after a crash to prevent shock and fires. According to NADA, the IIHS states crash tests have never resulted in a fire or spike in battery temperature. Plus, IIHS notes that passenger and driver injury claims are 40% lower than for identical gasoline models. One of the reasons for this is that the large batteries used in EVs make them heavier than gas models, which means vehicle occupants are exposed to lower forces in multivehicle crashes.

What questions are buyers asking when servicing EVs?

Most people who buy a gasoline vehicle are familiar with the idea of routine maintenance. You've got to do things like get oil changes, replace spark plugs and change various belts at regular intervals. But what does this mean if you buy an EV? There are still regular maintenance items, but they are fewer and generally have less cost associated with them. According to a study by the Argonne National Laboratory in 2021, scheduled maintenance costs will be 6.1 cents per mile on an EV versus 10.1 cents per mile on a gasoline vehicle. However, and this is a heads up for potential EV owners, though costs are generally lower over time, according to the NADA, first-year service costs per vehicle are typically higher for EVs because parts and labor for these vehicles are typically more expensive.

1. Thermal runaway begins when the heat generated within a battery exceeds the amount of heat that is dissipated to its surroundings.

This article is the second in a two-part series developed in collaboration between the Nickel Institute and the Cobalt Institute.