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There’s a lot of chatter about the pros and cons of electric vehicles (EVs) at the moment, but there’s still an elephant in the room with EV ownership: We don’t have enough technicians to fix them when they go wrong, or to maintain them for the future.
The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) issued a report in June which said there will be a potential shortage of 25,000 qualified TechSafe technicians by 2032. By 2030 the IMI predicts that we’ll need 107,000 TechSafe-certified technicians to work with EVs, a figure that’s expected to increase to 139,000 by 2032.
The IMI’s adjusted forecasts have drawn attention to a potential shortage of 20,000 EV technicians by 2030, inflating to 36,000 by 2032. What will we need in 2035? Who knows, but the problem isn’t going away judging by these figures.
Demand is growing fast. The Climate Change Committee predicts the number of EVs in the UK will increase from 1.1 million recorded in early 2023 to 28 million by 2035. A fifth of all new cars registered in August 2023 were battery electric vehicles (BEV), an astonishing 72% increase from August 2022. At Warrantywise we’ve sold more EV warranties over the first half of this year than in the whole of 2022.
It’s worth highlighting that EVs are more complex due to the added technology compared to a traditional ICE powered car, and while they have fewer ‘moving parts’, it’s this added hardware and software that cause them to have a habit of going wrong in different ways than their ICE counterparts. It’s why EVs will always require trained, certified technicians to fix and maintain them.
Yet, despite a push from the UK government including education regulators such as Ofqual, SQA, CCEA, and Qualifications Wales, IMI warns current economic pressures may result in cuts to funds usually available for training, leading to fewer businesses investing in the necessary TechSafe qualification for its technicians. During the first quarter of 2023, the education provider certified 3,345 skilled technicians, a 10 per cent drop in EV qualifications in comparison to the same period in 2022.
it’s important to remember that a used EV is only as good as the technician working on it. As we all demand consistently outstanding customer service and a quick turnaround for servicing any product, can we afford to not invest in our EV technicians?”
Lawrence Whittaker is CEO of Warrantywise