- US dealerships rely heavily on after-sales services and products for revenue.
- Electric car buyers are willing to see dealers handle the maintenance of electric cars, for a subscription fee
- The study also found that dealers could still do more with EV education.
Electric cars have lower maintenance needs than internal combustion vehicles, but a new survey suggests buyers may be interested in signing up for any maintenance they need, helping dealers maintain that revenue stream even without oil changes and belt replacements.
Analyst firm Escalent looked at the dealership experience from both the consumer and dealer perspective in its 2024 EVForward survey. Dealers and their business models, which currently rely more on maintenance and other after-sales services and products than vehicle sales, could be impacted by low-maintenance electric vehicles.
2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E
Analysts found that customers have ready for dealers to manage the maintenance of their electric vehicleseven lower than expected. The majority of “intending” EV buyers—survey respondents identified by Escalent as being 15 times more likely to buy an EV than the average new car buyer—said they would be interested in a regular maintenance subscription.
Brake replacement (82%) and tire replacement (84%) were the most popular choices. Electric vehicles need new tires much more often than gasoline-powered cars, in part because of their weight and torque—but tire makers are working on this. Current electric cars still need maintenance on friction brakes just like gasoline cars, but as regenerative braking becomes more powerful, electric cars may not even need brake pads replaced.as they are only used for emergency braking and stopping a few feet.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 2024
What hasn’t gone away, however, is the need for consumer education — something the survey also highlighted. More than 80% of respondents said it would be important for a dealer to review proper maintenance when buying an electric vehicle (only 62% reported that dealers actually do this). Nearly 70% of electric vehicle buyers and 48% of electric vehicle owners said they would be interested in taking courses on Topics like maximizing range and battery life.
While EV maintenance needs are typically much lower—helping keep five year cost of ownership under many gasoline-powered cars, according to one study—higher insurance costs is a concern. Perhaps more car manufacturers should step in and help ensure that insurance is more affordable too?
