Urban shops start seeing EVs for scheduled maintenance
In the Denver metro area, owners of electric vehicles started to reach out to independent repair shops for scheduled inspections, and some customers are calling the shops where they used to take their internal combustion engine vehicle before taking the leap. The picture here shows a Kia Niro charging after 7,500-mile service at Autovisions in Englewood. CO, a shop that’s deeply connected to EV.THRIVE and might have started it all.
Denver might be on the leading edge of the shift, but independent shops across the country are anticipating an increase in EV services. In July, IMR Research reported the results of a study that involved interviewing representatives of 1000 independent repair shops in the U.S. with the goal of mapping how these businesses are offering service or preparing for servicing battery electric vehicles (BEV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV).
It is the largest study exploring the topic that we came across. One not surprising result is showing a sharp difference between how shops in different states are looking at the future. Shops in what IMR calls “heavy HEV populated states” ̶ California and some parts of the East coast ̶ service a higher number of BEVs, while the numbers are significantly lower in states in the Midwest.
Forty percent of the shops expect that the increased number of HEVs and EVs will impact their business in the next two years!