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With more and more manufacturers adding electric vehicles (EVs) onto their portfolio, 2015 could well be the tipping point with electric and plug-in hybrid sales jumping by 139% this year.
Electric cars are now a viable mode of transport, offering a manageable range supported by a much better, and constantly improving, network of charging stations, which makes them a good alternative for extended city driving.
The key issue for me on the real impact and ultimate success of EVs is how they fair in the used car market from a resale price and also the appetite of used car buyers to adapt their approach to driving. Some models are now beginning to hit the used market , but for those with a battery lease rather than the battery being included with the car, there are some issues that need to be handled.
A recent experience made me realise that selling these types of EVs may not always be a simple process. A vendor asked us to sell a small fleet of electric cars - Renault Zoe's to be precise. For dealers bidding and consumers buying the Zoe's not only did they need to consider the purchase price but also the cost of, and the process around transferring, the lease for the battery, because when buying a used Zoe, the old owner's contract with Renault is cancelled and a new battery lease agreement needs to be established.
That also applies to dealers, who need to sign up for a lease on any of this type of vehicle they buy, and the cost of the battery lease can be between £50 and £80 per month depending on the term and mileage contract. This is an additional cost and burden to dealers that they need to absorb before they sell the vehicle and then they need to facilitate another lease with the new purchaser before releasing the vehicle.
We've certainly had to change our process when preparing that type of vehicle for sale. So with the Zoe's we had to ensure that the vehicle went into auction with buyers fully aware of their responsibilities to sign up for the new battery lease and appreciated that they needed to complete the transfer of the lease before we were able to release the car to them for them to sell on.
In fact, we developed a new purchase terms and conditions form for buyers to agree to that clarified that we will only release the vehicle once we've had confirmation that the new lease has been accepted by the relevant finance company, it's this extra attention to detail that we are able to offer and something that's very much appreciated by our partners.
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