Everyone test drives the car. Almost nobody test drives the parts supply chain. That’s a problem, because the newer the EV model is, the thinner and more fragile that supply chain is likely to be – and learning that the hard way in the dealers lot is a much worse experience than discovering it in the showroom.
Petrol buyers have had decades to learn the lesson, and so the aftermarket covers everything from tuning parts to entire engines for a ten year old family sedan. Parts are cheap, and any mechanic can install them. Newer EVs are not yet so privileged. Their supply chains are not yet established, and at various points deliberately segmented to encourage a single channel of supply. Here are five things to check before you buy, and not afterwards.
OEM parts can be retired before you need them
Manufacturers regularly retire parts from production as new EVs are launched, incorporating newer battery chemistries, drive units, and body structures. As these launches occur every two to three years, the newer model typically becomes the sole production variant, meaning parts for older models are no longer produced for the same. This means that dealers’ parts departments are much more eager to sell off any remaining new/unused parts for a model that they have to carry for a decade or more for warranty repairs. A business case can be made to retire parts production for the outgoing model as soon as the incoming model hits showrooms, though it rarely happens this methodically; parts are typically no longer produced four to five years after launch.
Aftermarket manufacturers need time to tool up, and the newest cars have the shortest tails
The aftermarket needed several decades to develop the tooling and production economies to support a petrol sedan. No equivalent process has yet occurred for EVs, and the newest models are likely to have the smallest support. For certain generic parts, such as brakes or suspension, or even some interior trim, there are alternatives from the aftermarket. However, on bodywork, battery, or drive unit parts, it is largely OEM or nothing.
Hence for the most part, if it is not available at the dealer, it is not available. Unless you are prepared to pay a premium for a generic part, for anything beyond minor maintenance, the only viable supply chain option is the franchised dealer. Further down the road, there may be more options, but still likely limited. For the moment, how new the car is is much more important than how new the drivetrain technology on it is if one is thinking of the aftermarket. If nobody has had to replace something yet, there is unlikely to be a supply chain for it yet.
Software locks can render a physically compatible part unusable
This is the one that most people overlook, because it is the one that most people do not think about. It is physically the right part, and in many cases, not even faulty, but due to a combination of the unique challenges of EVs and the enthusiasm of some sellers on classifieds sites, it may simply not be possible to use it without spending additional money on the dealership’s diagnostic and programming equipment.
Many EV parts are designed to be programmed to a specific vehicle, or to be read by a specific dealership diagnostic tooling, and any part deemed sufficiently valuable or secure is likely to be VIN-locked, requiring a serial number change to be usable on another vehicle.
Few parts of the vehicle illustrate this more clearly than the drive unit or battery, but it is the battery pack that is the most illustrative example. Finding a used battery requires not just finding someone who has one for your year and model or one that can be reconstructed using compatible cells, but potentially one that is not VIN-locked if it is newer than a certain date, and potentially one that is not locked to a particular thermal management or BMS system if it has spent any time on another vehicle. A battery that has spent any time in service already is likely to have a proprietary immobiliser or some other sealed diagnostic module that has to be matched to the receiving vehicle. A wrecker or independent mechanic with the appropriate diagnostic equipment can sometimes programme this compatibility themselves, but many cannot. Ask specifically, because the ability to install the part and the ability to activate it are two different things.
Battery damage turns fender-bender sized claims into total-loss declarations
Many newer EVs are embracing the structural battery design, or cell-to-body construction, wherein the battery pack is a structural element of the vehicle. This is a wonderful enabler for weight reduction and torsional rigidity, but it also means that any impact to the underbody of the vehicle carries a much higher risk of necessitating the replacement of the entire battery pack.
Lithium-ion battery packs are tremendously expensive. At the time of writing, the average pack cost in US dollars was around $139 per kilowatt-hour in 2023 (BloombergNEF), making something like a typical long-range battery pack a US$10,700 before any labour or installation costs are added on top of it. On a depreciated vehicle, that can easily exceed the value of the vehicle itself, and so insurers are much more inclined to total out an EV with a damaged battery, sometimes with surprisingly little provocation. This is especially true for structural battery designs, where any damage to the battery pack – even if it does not appear to be physically damaged – is likely to necessitate its replacement, with all the cost and hassle that entails. This is an important consideration when purchasing a used EV, not least because it can affect the value of the vehicle and the availability of parts.
Certified repair shops are fewer and further between than you might expect
High voltage automotive systems require uniquely high levels of training and certification to work on, and many independent mechanics will avoid them for this reason. It is a rational choice for the individual mechanic, given the time investment and costs of the certification, but this means that EV owners have a much shorter list of potential repair shops to choose from than they might be accustomed to from the petrol era.
In an urban environment, this is rarely an issue; in more regional environments, it can sometimes mean driving hours to get the car serviced, or waiting weeks for a mobile mechanic to come and do it. Ask yourself beforehand whether there are EV-certified shops within a reasonable distance for general maintenance, not just warranty work at the franchised dealer. If the nearest one is a three hour drive, take that into account when considering the purchase.
Three channels, one rising quickly
For practical purposes, there are three avenues for parts sourcing for a newer EV. The franchised dealer channel is the obvious one, but the other two, the aftermarket and the salvage channel, are not without their advantages for the right buyer. At the moment, only one of these is rising quickly, and it is the one you think about last. Salvage yards are seeing new opportunities presented to them by battery damage claims, and are pursuing them with great interest. Insurers are much more inclined to write off an EV with structural battery damage as a total loss, and so a car that would once have been sent to the wreckers with a few minor body panel repairs is now arriving with a much more valuable asset to recycle.
A wrecking yard that can supply functional parts is much more appealing to EV buyers, and so specialising in a single marque can allow a wrecking yard to offer much better depth in that particular model than a generalist yard with a scattering of different marques. In Australia, BYD Wrecking is an example of this emerging business model. A generalist yard with a handful of EVs scattered among its inventory is much less appealing to a buyer looking to purchase a BYD, whereas a specialist yard has the opportunity to test and stock the parts it knows its customers will want, including those that require dealer-level diagnostic and integration support. Salvage yards are not a universal solution; there are still parts, particularly in the drive unit, that can only be sourced through franchised dealers. However, when it comes to more generic parts such as body panels, sensors, or even the charging unit itself, a salvage yard can provide much faster availability than the franchised dealer channel, particularly on more obscure brands. For a buyer considering a BYD model, being aware of this option can make all the difference, reducing months of waiting on dealer parts to weeks in some cases.
This does not eliminate the franchised dealer channel, and it ought not to. Warranty considerations still dominate, and fitting either aftermarket or salvage parts can void a warranty on a car that is still under it, and so this option is only really viable for cars that are well out of warranty. Salvage yards are also much better positioned to serve newer models, but for older ones, local networks can be incredibly valuable.
Global supply chains rarely serve local repair needs
The mere fact that a particular part is produced does not necessarily mean that it is produced close to you; most OEM electric vehicle parts are produced as part of global just-in-time supply chains, and are rarely kept in local inventory. This is a large part of why repair times on electric vehicles are so long; a part that is produced elsewhere and shipped to the local dealer can take up to six weeks to order, arrive, clear customs, and be fitted.
That is significantly more time than most people are willing to wait for their daily driver to be repaired, particularly when the costs of renting another vehicle during that time can exceed the repair costs themselves. These are costs that many people do not account for when budgeting for an electric vehicle repair.
Three things to check
Here are three things to do before buying a car that will reduce the chances of being unpleasantly surprised by the state of its supply chains later.
Request a dealer quote for a few different generic parts, or ask about lead times if the dealer is unable to provide them for now.
Do your own research for aftermarket equivalents for these same parts, to understand what is available outside of franchised dealers.
Ask a local salvage yard specialist about what they have in stock for that make, and if they have the capacity to deal with any software pairing requirements.
If these three things turn up few results, it is not necessarily a reason to avoid buying the car, but it is a reason to be realistic about what kinds of delays or expenses one may encounter later. Many electric vehicle models are likely to have similarly sparse supply chains, and while these will doubtless evolve and improve as the marques and models mature, it is important to understand the implications for one’s own circumstances.
Right-to-repair legislation will encourage manufacturers to loosen their control over diagnostic and repair software, and shared platforms will create more common parts than exist today. These are both forces that will serve to improve the repairability of electric vehicles, but neither has done so yet, and so both are distant advantages for any particular model one is considering at the moment.
The car is only half the purchase; the other half is everything that comes afterwards, and the less one has to think about it, the better. Check that half as thoroughly as you check the first, and you will avoid unpleasant surprises later down the road.
