EV Watch for Saturday December 10 2022

This is a very interesting situation and needs to be looked at more closely. Much of this is walled garden lock in, similar to Apple products, where third party repairs are limited to only the approved shops. The other is skill level and knowledge. EV’s are largely computers on wheels, not cars with computers. As a result they have less moving parts, and more chips and software. Tools to diagnose have to come from the manufacturers, and for now, there are very few third party tools out there to evaluate the vehicle in order to provide service. This monopoly like environment makes it harder for independent shops to do all but basic work, and in turn drives up the cost for owners to have their cars repaired if the work needed is not covered by warranty or the warranty has expired. This will eventually change over time, as manufacturers move in the asset light direction, reducing their repair footprint, offering licenses to repair facilities and providing them the software and hardware to maintain, update and repair the vehicles.