Conclusion

What should you do?

Currently, without a signal that indicates the battery quality, used-car buyers assume BEV batteries are treated worse by the previous owner than in fact they are and, therefore, are only willing to pay a comparatively low price.

The Battery Health Report (BHR) could overcome these assumptions of worse-treated batteries, prove higher battery qualities and thus longer ranges.

• Used-car buyers should insist on obtaining a BHR to establish proven, independently assessed battery quality and corresponding range for the electric vehicle to be bought.
• The BHR should not only reflect the actual SoH of the battery but also its treatment history, how often it was fast charged, how often it was highly discharged, the average depth of discharge, the average state of charge storage levels, as well as the expected remaining useful lifetime. These figures should all be compared to average battery treatment.
• Used-car sellers should provide a BHR alongside the description of the vehicle to achieve the maximum resale price, especially for a BEV with a better-treated battery, to prove the high quality of the battery and the still considerable range of the BEV to be sold.
• OEMs should be more transparent about battery health and enable analyses – this would add up to 2.4% in RV performance (for better battery treatment).
• Fleet and leasing companies could incentivise better treatment of batteries together with fleet managers and grant a kickback, similar to that for credit mileages. Worse treatment could be charged for, as with excess mileage.
• With a BHR in place for all used BEVs, residual values would rise as the worst-case assumption on battery treatment is moderated and eventually lifted by the BHR.

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