This will provide the opportunity for a wider number of vehicle buyers to get into an EV as more affordable used vehicles come into the reach of more budgets. 

The national manager for enterprise partnerships at Cox Automotive Australia, Anthony Poci told GoAutoNews Premium the return of EVs to the market will require completely new knowledge sets to handle the difference between remarketing piston engine vehicles and electric vehicles.

A special report on EV remarketing, by defleeting and remarketing specialists Cox Automotive Australia, which owns Manheim Auctions, says that as the uptake of EVs continues to increase and OEMs will introduce more model lines into the market, the early adopters of electric vehicles will now start to see their fleets change over, and the focus will turn to the disposal of these EV assets. 

Anthony Poci

The report, Six trends you should know when defleeting and remarketing EVs, covers:

• Growth in EV uptake across Fleet, Government and Rental sectors
• Improved battery technology
• Expansion of charging infrastructure
• Increased focus on sustainability, emissions reduction and new policies for commercial vehicles
• Increased competition
• Establishment of a second-hand EV marketplace.

Mr Poci said that “Right now a large proportion of EV sales go to the private market’s early adopters. Fleet EV sales have been held back by limited availability of models, and stock constraints affecting most OEMs.

“As such the market for pre-owned EVs is limited.

“At the same time we are seeing many large companies and SMEs considering EVs to both meet corporate CO2 reduction targets, and reduce their fuel bills and associated running costs. This applies to both passenger cars and commercial vehicles. 

“With the Federal Government now committed to a Fuel Efficiency Standard designed to force car companies to send more EVs to Australia, and offering a fringe-benefits tax exemption for EVs priced below around $85,000, fleet uptake comes ever-more into the spotlight.

“The Federal Government also has a stated goal of operating a Net Zero Australian Public Service fleet by 2030, with 75 per cent of Commonwealth fleet passenger vehicle leases required to be low-emission vehicles by 2025.

“On the rental side we have also seen major deals to put EVs onto these fleets, such as BYD’s deal with Sixt and Polestar’s deal with Hertz. EVs available for rent have a role to play in getting more people familiar with the technology.

“As this uptake of EVs continues to increase across fleet sectors, early adopters will start to turn over their fleets, and the focus will turn to the disposal of these assets.

Mr Poci said that the market will be watching to see the condition of Chinese and Korean EVs when they return in two or three years’ time but until then “a lot of the initial ones that come back are going to be the fleet and government vehicles that have been as cheaply priced as they possibly could on initial purchase.

“But, if EV uptake is going to be encouraged, the secondhand EVs are going to have to be priced at a point where they are not a barrier to the second hand buyer. There’s going to have to be a new lower layer of affordability and the used car is the way that that is going to happen.

Mr Poci said remarketing EVs would involve new skills and knowledge.

He said that service history was a key factor in piston engine vehicles. A vehicle with a service history around oil change is generally worth more than one that doesn’t have a service history. 

“With an EV we are not looking at oil changes, we are talking about battery health.

“Battery Health Score diagnostics will become the new “vehicle logbook” in future, and new technologies will provide confidence in battery life and diagnostics. This will support the growth of the second-hand market along with new battery development.

“That is why Spiers New Technologies was recently purchased by Cox Automotive Mobility, a sister division of Cox Automotive in the US. Spiers has created software that evaluates the state and worth of electric car batteries and generates a battery health score provided by ALFRED, which is their unique and patented battery decisioning platform.

“If you look at an electric vehicle and it comes back with 75 per cent battery remaining based on the algorithm versus the next car that may have 91 per cent battery health remaining. It stands to reason that the 91 per cent is going to be worth more than the 75 per cent car.

“And there’s going to be reasons why that 75 per car has come back at a lower battery health score than the other one. It could be because it has been charged, plus the number of times it has been fast charged.

“They are all battery wear ramifications. So that’s going to be one of the biggest things to consider when those cars come off the fleet and whether that be from an unfair wear and tear perspective for fleet companies to charge.”

Mr Poci said that “as we hear and read about electric vehicles in the news daily, it’s crucial we understand how to prepare for the disruption this technology will impose on the automotive industry, consumers, and wider society.

He said that when it comes to remarketing EVs, it is clear they require new tactics and strategies, putting pressure on the industry to adjust quickly and decisively.

By John Mellor