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All - Electric ( yuk ) - HGV ~ P Valentine

Mechanic fumes as electric cars 'will close half of Britain's garages' (msn.com)

I read this aricle and thought I would share this with you, short version is that independant garages are claiming that they cannot afford to retrain their mechanics and a such we will mostly have only chains and main dealers for vehicle repairs.

Manufacturers refusing to pass on the tecchnology to allow others to work on their electric vehicles is nothing new. as we have already have that with keyless ignition.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - Ethan Edwards

Their choice. Work that will fade away in 25 to 30 years , or adapt change and get a piece of the pie. Any independent that steps up will likely become obscenely wealthy.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - Sofa Spud

I worked for many years in a job that was replaced by new technology. Things move on.

As the number of ageing electric cars on our roads grows, independent experts will emerge.

Experts from within car makers like Tesla will move on in their careers and take knowledge with them. Some will go to rival companies, some will become consultants and some will see opportunities in after-market care.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - Adampr

They've only just finished smashing up the Spinning Jenny.

When I had an EV, it got serviced at independent garages. They were far from grand, but they knew an opportunity when they saw it.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - _

Is there not some bright person down Cheltenham way who has seized his chance and done that, and is an INDIE 'LECCY speacialist.

Others will emerge.

nephew is RAF avionics, nice backgound for other options when he retires.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - Bolt

It will depend on the manufacturer as to whether they will make the parts specialist or not similar to Apple who train there own independent's to work on there phones, I can see that due to high voltage they may not allow certain parts to be worked on without the proper training and specialist equipment

or will make them non repairable so they have to be recycled one way or the other, I think as regards electronic circuits will become so small they will need thousands of £s to buy the gear to be able to repair circuits if they can be at all such is the component size now

All - Electric ( yuk ) - Steveieb

Cleveley Electric Vehicles are the EV specialist in Cheltenham who can offer repairs down to component level.

They have had problems , I understand with access to dealer only software updates etc leading them to complain to manufacturers.

But they have a supply of second hand parts and will soon be offering a nationwide mobile service.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - John F

As Messrs Archer, Baker, Carter, Dyer, etc will confirm, as civilisation advances one must adapt and improve or fester and fail. Apart from window cleaning and the priesthood, virtually all jobs have changed hugely over the past fifty years and new occupations have appeared.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - Terry W

Many frequent car repair needs are completely unaffected by the drivetrain - brakes, steering, suspension, ancillary motors, heaters, aircon etc.

That EV drivetrain needs are currently met by the manufacturer is due to the small numbers in service, and rapid design changes making third party supply uneconomic.

There is no reason why the infrastructure for EVs should not mirror ICE where some (not all) components are available from independent sources. The EV network may be no different in a few years!

Because they are fundamentally less complex, EV drivetrains should be far more reliable and require less repair. Bluntly - more reliable = cheaper to run = less jobs for mechanics.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - madf

Be aware that BMW I 3 experience is that BMW do not repair electric parts: they replace. Which means some repairs will cost £6 to £9k when all that may be needed is a new internal fuse..

This may be true for other makers but BMW electronics are inherently not consistently reliable. Oh and on early 2014-15 cars there are a whole list of quality issues like motor mounts where the design has subsequently changed as they tended to break.

All - Electric ( yuk ) - Steveieb

Remembering an article in Auto Express about Clevely EVs ,they successfully replaced a main battery fuse but the local BMW dealer refused to reprogram the part.

Subsequent appeals to BMW in Germany persuaded the dealer to release the upgrade and the job was charged in hundreds instead of several thousand at the main dealer .

Certainly worth a trip to Cheltenham !

All - Electric ( yuk ) - Terry W

ICE manufacturers played (and some still play) precisely the same tricks over software updates, licensing of component manufacture, replace not repair etc. No surprise that EV are no different.

As already noted - independents will emerge, higher volume spares will be available from other suppliers, copies of manufacturer software will be traded (initially on the black market), supply of s/h parts from written off vehicles will increase.

No different from the rip off trade in ECUs where replacement can cost £1000+ from manufacturer, s/h or repair £100-250.