The electric vehicle movement is charging ahead—is your service department equipped to take advantage of the service opportunities for EV maintenance? While EVs do mean fewer maintenance intervals (and fewer chances to schedule customers for service), they also mean you must adjust your entire strategy, from service and parts to sales and beyond.

If you are concerned about how EV maintenance needs will affect your service lane’s profitability, there are ways you can prepare your staff and your store to capture every service opportunity, drive upsells, maintain customer engagement and loyalty, and meet service revenue goals.

EVs Require Less Maintenance—Here’s How to Keep Up with Revenue Goals

How Do EV Service Needs Differ from ICE Vehicles?

Some of your current and potential customers may believe the myth that EVs are expensive to maintain and repair, but that isn’t the case. As these electric vehicle owners shop for a service provider, there are several differences between their EV and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that they (and your service team) should know:

• There are fewer fluids, such as engine oil and transmission fluid, that need regular maintenance
• EVs don’t have certain parts, including spark plugs, valves, mufflers, and drive belts, that would need maintenance or replacing in ICE vehicles
• The battery, motor, and associated electronics in an EV require little to no regular maintenance
• While EVs do have air filters and coolant, these parts and fluids don’t need to be replaced or flushed as often
• EVs use regenerative braking, which helps to extend the life of the brakes

With these great savings in store for your EV customers, your service department needs to focus on a few key areas to capture more service opportunities while still providing an exceptional experience for your customers. These EV maintenance items include:

• Tire rotation
• Wiper blade replacement
• Wheel alignment
• Software updates

Your Top Service Upsell Opportunities for EVs

According to this year’s EV market predictions, there are many reasonably priced models expected to become available for customers, meaning more EV maintenance needs for them and more service opportunities for you.

Encourage EV customers to develop a relationship with your service department and establish loyalty by taking advantage of pre-paid maintenance plans. This will help ease the concern some new EV owners may have as they transition from an ICE-powered vehicle and discover what their electric vehicle needs to run its best.

As you send marketing communications to your current and potential EV customers, highlight your extensive parts and accessories selection, from tires and windshield wiper blades to all-weather floor mats and roof racks.

In addition to consistent marketing to your customers throughout their ownership lifecycle, be sure to include vehicle equity notices and exclusive trade-up offers, so you can help show them that your store knows electric vehicles (including their resale value) and is the ideal place to find their next EV as well as maintain it.

Does Your Store Need a Winning EV Strategy?

Selling and servicing electric vehicles doesn’t have to be complicated. If you’re wondering how to set your dealership for success in the EV market, we can help. With Affinitiv Voltage, you’ll receive the guidance you need to supercharge our solutions for specific EV needs, from equity mining and service lane management to retention marketing and more. Contact us today to explore the insights from our latest EV study and to learn more about our EV solutions.