Lawrence Whittaker, CEO of Warrantywise, has warned of a UK wide skills gap for the maintenance of EVs and is urging the government to invest in technical training.
“There are more zero emission and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road than there are specialist third-party mechanics and skilled labour to maintain them. That’s the simple maths,” he said.
“With predictions of more than ten million electric-based cars on the road by 2030, and the government working towards 2030 with its own emissions goals, this is something we need to fix, and fast, or else customers will end up having to continue to pay dealer rates.”
He explained that the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Repair Alliance (HEVRA) has 180 specialist member garages to help diagnose and fix EV problems. He went onto predict it needs to add another 120 in 2022 alone to keep up with demand.
“While this year they are on track, with 17 new garages opened already in 2022, by 2025 they will need to open a new EV specialist garage every day to keep up. That is also only based on existing cars which are under warranty, not possible future numbers,” Whittaker continued.
His concerns were backed up by HEVRA, its founder Peter Melville, added: “The car repair sector has changed enormously since the days of stripping down oily engines, and it requires a different skillset to what was needed in the past, but also can appeal to a different kind of person. It’s important that those people who would be very useful and very happy in this sector don’t overlook it based on the stereotypes of the past.”
