Will the EV cars take away business? Let's rethink this

[Eric Roberts]

Hi I pretty much agree with you all. From a UK prospective then we have all the same problems but on a smaller scale. People live in old Victorian streets or high rise flats and will not get the same service from charging points .Another good point is the fact that the electric cars will still be part of a mix of technologies. it will be up to us to dictate what parts of the car we wish to repair or service. We made a bold decision a few years ago to pass onto a specialist any engine problems. We were spending too much time and never got the real profit margins. Now we get a trade price and have an add on amount to the customer. This frees us up for the more profitable jobs. Well the electric cars will be the same. Also the owner of the Teslas here in the UK are the same guys who bought Mercs and larger BMW,s ! Its a prestige car at the moment.

Thanks for a great topic Eric www.pellonautocentre.com

 

[Joe Marconi]

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[Eric Roberts]

Hi Thanks fir that! Electric cars a well in the minority however they are slowly creeping up in numbers. I think car manufacturers are getting huge back handers to develop these things. The clean air brigade are fuelling the desire of  power hungry politicians to achieve a carbon zero climate by 2030. However this has been interrupted by spike in electricity costs and the government are having to rethink. My small town ,Halifax is as old as the hills and will never accommodate charging points to charge all the electric cars that are desired and regular car owning people dont want them anyway, they are a rich mans toy at the moment and lets hope they stay that way! Only time will tell and I am running out of that > 

[Joe Marconi]

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[Eric Roberts]

Please take a look at the UK Talk radio link its very interesting   

 

[Joe Marconi]

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[Eric Roberts]

Hi Thanks for that ! There is a report about the whole false agenda coming out shortly about how we have been sold false facts. It is in PDF form and based on the whole UK governments own facts and figures. I will pass this on when I get the online copy. There is an uprising against this in the UK !Thank goodness. Eric Roberts  

[Hands On]

Am I the only one in the forum preparing my shop for EV services? Maybe I will not have much competition?

[Joe Marconi]

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[Eric Roberts]

Hi many of us in the \UK think it will be the death of the independent small garages that we all know today. We are now  starting to fight the transition as it will cost millions of jobs as the work is passed around the large franchises. The rest will be fighting for the scraps. They did this to our "corner shops" . All were owned and run as  a small family business. The supermarkets opened up down the same road and closed them down. Then a year or so later the big supermarkets opened up on the exact same site as the old closed down corner shops. A well executed and coordinated plan. Now they have a new enemy called Amazon. I am sure you are aware of them! Something similar will happen to the small family run garages if we dont start to fight this. Thats my opinion for what its worth Eric Roberts

[Joe Marconi]

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[Transmission Repair]

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[jamcneely]

I own a 2020 Performance Model 3 as my commuter and it works very well for me. It's smooth, stupid fast, incredible sound system, etc. I absolutely love the car! I ate up a set of tires in 9K miles in which Michelin pro-rated so it only cost about $500. It seems that auto crossing your daily is not the best idea. But damn it was fun and impressive! It amazes me how well technology keeps us safe. The car makes you feel like you can do no wrong, pretty cool yet scary! I feel bad for this generation of drivers and the other drivers (us) around them considering the differences between my 71 Nova in high school and this Model 3. 

I have a Tesla charger at home and at the shop using 220 which takes about 5 hours to charge. I have solar on my house and battery back up. I live in far Northern California and unfortunately our wonderful governor (Gruesome) is most likely going to start taxing my car, my solar and attach a meter to my well and charge me for water. Gruesome is a huge backer of all this EV nonsense and says by 2035 there will be no more ICE's sold in Ca. He also had the nerve to tell EV owners to NOT charge our cars because the grid can't handle it. WTF? LOL!!!!!! I also own a 2016 Tundra and a Miata I use for racing so I feel I'm kinda evening out my carbon footprint.

We have a couple customers with EV's at the shop however other than tire rotation and alignments we haven't done much yet. I am looking forward to working on them, well having my son work on them. My dad got out of the tech side in the early 90's when carburetors went out and EFI came in. I took over as the drivability tech at that time and then the business in 2016. Now my son is that guy! We have been in business 55 years as of 2023 and my boys are 4th generation here.

I believe the US political money mongers feel better that we drill for oil and take from the ground all of the things we need in third world countries as opposed to ours because out of sight out of mind.

There needs to be a mix of ICE, hybrids, EV's, hydrogen, etc. to make this all work but there's always gonna be the one stickler group that'll throw a wrench in the whole thing.

Thanks guys I really enjoy reading these posts.

 

[Joe Marconi]

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[jamcneely]

Profit now, pay later!

[Eric Roberts]

Hi firstly could I apologise for my delay in answering! Unfortunately my wife has been taken ill and is in hospital at the moment!

In answer to jamcneely then he has given almost a perfect reply. 1st point: He is using one to get about town in where their will be plenty of charging stations. More importantly he is using his own electric supplied by his solar battery bank. There will be people and places where an electric car makes sense to own and yours looks perfect for the purpose. Like you I also think that the EV will be part of the big mix of fuels at the end of the day. However, I believe that the electric car service and repairs side will be steered towards the main dealers and the small/medium garages will slowly be depleted of work. The world order is for !bigger is better" now matter where you live in this crazy world.

The second half of my reply also relates to the reply by Joe Marconi.

Many thanks Eric Roberts

[Joe Marconi]

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[Eric Roberts]

Thanks for the great reply! However I dont think we have had a threat as great as the EV in the past. We are resilient but more an more fall by the wayside. Time alone will tell and that's something I dont have a great deal of, so perhaps I worry too much ?