The remarketing sector has a vital role to play in fostering electric vehicle battery repair and recycling, the latest member meeting of the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) heard last week.

Experts at the event outlined the urgent need to develop a resilient, circular battery economy in the UK to maintain the viability of the used EV market.

Robin Brundle, co-founder of lithium-ion battery recycler Recyclus, emphasised that batteries must not be exported for recycling. Retaining these highly valuable materials in the UK is vital for domestic manufacturing and resource security.

“Vehicle remarketers have an important part to play here by partnering with certified UK recycling providers, ensuring safe collection and storage, engaging insurers to strengthen corporate responsibility for end-of-life battery recycling, and lobbying for battery producer responsibility to fund local recycling.”

Antonia Stephenson, director of operations for EV Battery Solutions at Cox Automotive, said battery repair was essential to ensuring a viable used EV sector.

“As batteries move out of manufacturer warranties, safe, compliant and economic repair services need to be accessible. With the rapid pace of development in EV batteries, there is a good chance that direct replacement batteries won’t be available.

“Repair is likely to be the only option if you want to keep vehicles on the road and maintain the used vehicle market. The best way to ensure this can be done is to establish repair programmes early.”

Abhishek Sampat, head of electric vehicles at BCA, emphasised that remarketing customers now see battery repair as an increasingly viable, cost-driven alternative.

“If a battery can be restored economically – and it is important to stress that many of the most common issues are not complex and can be resolved in a matter of hours by the right staff and equipment – customers will choose to repair.”

The current situation for battery state-of-health companies was explored in detail through a video link with Roland Gagel of CARA, the car remarketing association of Europe, who discussed his organisation’s industry-standard battery testing scheme.

Oliver Philpott, CEO of Generational, said the initiative was impressive. “It’s the only scheme of its kind worldwide and is playing an important role in enhancing battery confidence.”

Alex Johns, business development partner at battery diagnostics firm Moba, highlighted the challenge of keeping pace with the market.

“The speed with which EVs, especially from Chinese new entrants, are being launched creates a challenge for everyone in our sector, ensuring we have the ability to accurately assess them. So far, we are largely keeping up, which is obviously important to maintaining the viability of these cars in the used sector.”

Attendees also heard that the focus of that testing is also evolving, beyond just keeping up with new models.

Nikolaus Mayerhofer, chief technology officer at Aviloo, explained that safety is now a primary concern.

“We see safety as a growing issue. It happens rarely, but if an EV battery goes wrong, the outcome is sometimes dramatic. Testing can identify the potential for problems occurring, as well as providing information that helps workshops trace and repair faults.”

Shifting focus to broader market trends, Autotrader partnerships director Nick Press concluded the event by linking the rise of used EVs to a sudden decline in demand for traditional prestige petrol and diesel models.

“This has been a resilient part of the market for many years, but it seems some buyers are now choosing to either switch to a new car from one of the Chinese new entrants or the EV version of a three- to five-year-old ICE model. The current price of fuel is making used electric cars look highly attractive from a running cost point of view.”

Providing a striking backdrop for these industry discussions was Wilson’s Queensferry auction site. The historic former steelworks headquarters – which once employed 16,000 local workers – recently received a four-year, £10m investment that restored unique details such as its stained glass, 19th-century Italian tiles and a staircase identical to the Titanic’s.

Ricky Wilson, director at Wilson’s Auctions, said: “While, like all auction businesses, we’ve invested heavily in technology in recent years, we still see ourselves as very much a people business that relishes face-to-face meetings, so we are very pleased to be able to share these beautifully restored premises here at Queensferry with so many of our friends from across the remarketing sector.”

Philip Nothard, chair at the VRA, summed up the day: “This was an extremely well-attended and vital VRA meeting. The emergence of a range of services supporting the lifecycle of motive batteries is essential to the EV market as it grows, and today, we provided our members with in-depth briefings on how the current picture needs to evolve.”