COVER How to run a second-hand EV

Tackling the motoring issues that matter

P e t e G i b s o n

Richard Ingram

Richard _ Ingram@autovia.co.uk @rsp_ ingram

RANGE anxiety and charging may be a big concern for electric car drivers, but as today’s new models begin to appear on used-car forecourts, for many motorists the focus will shift to how to keep ageing EVs on the road.

As it stands, few mechanics or workshops are qualified to work on electric vehicles, such is the complexity of the battery and motors, and the added risk that comes with maintaining this kind of high-voltage componentry. Even some franchised dealers don’t have the necessary kit or training to safely carry out otherwise basic tasks.

It’s because of this that Matt Cleevely, managing director of Cleevely Motors, decided to diversify his business. The family-run garage was opened by his grandfather in 1962, and Matt has been part of the furniture for the best part of three decades, servicing and repairing all types of car from the company’s base in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

In 2017, Matt and his wife Claire bought a second-hand Nissan Leaf. “We had a horrendous buying experience, ” he tells us. “We went to two dealers, neither of them knew anything about the cars; they kept pointing me towards their petrol and diesel models. I went out and bought a car from another dealer 30 miles away. ”

At the time, electric vehicles accounted for around one per cent of the market (today it’s more like 14 per cent) and yet Matt – a man with a passion for technology and the way things work – saw an opportunity to develop Cleevely’s offering, and redefine its future in the industry.

He found himself asking how he could keep Cleevely going for the next generation. “EV was just up and coming, ” he recalled. “I thought ‘that’s an interesting technology’ , and it falls in with my own beliefs about renewable energy. ”

And so his electric-car business was born. While Cleevely continues to welcome petrol and diesel drivers to its shop, EV bookings have rocketed from one or two a week when they started five years ago, to 30-40 per cent of its workload.

Matt describes Cleevely’s primary function as a “hand hold” for people as they transition from petrol to electric vehicles. “We’ve had to change our strategy and adapt what we do as a garage, ” Matt tells us. “We had to treat early [electric-car] customers very differently to the ones that we are probably going to get from now on. The adoption curve is a steep one, and there’s a lot to learn. ”

As well as offering servicing, MoTs and repairs, there is a range of used EVs for sale. You can even rent a Tesla to try before you buy. “What gets people into EVs is bums on seats, ” Matt tells us, as director and head of sales David “His team would rather figure out a way to repair a customer’s car than write it off and sell them a new one”

DREAM TEAM

Matt (far right) runs a tight ship with wife Claire and director David Smith. All three drive EVs; Smith takes care of Cleevely’s used-car sales

Smith shows a couple around a red Tesla that Cleevely currently has in stock. “We rent [the Model S] out to people so they can have the experience without the expense, ” Matt says. “They can make their own decision from there. ”

But Matt’s message is one of sustainability, too. His team would rather figure out a way to repair a customer’s car than write it off and sell them a new (or used) one. A good chunk of Cleevely’s early business was in removing and replacing faulty cells on Mk1 Nissan Leafs, extending the life of vehicles that would otherwise be deemed scrap.

To help facilitate many of these repairs, Cleevely is a member of the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Repair Alliance (HEVRA), meaning it’s regularly checked to ensure it has the right qualifications, tools and equipment to service and repair electric and hybrid vehicles. But the partnership works both ways: while HEVRA supports Cleevely with any questions or queries it might have, Matt and his team offer feedback on any new and important findings they come across when working on customers’ cars.

One such example came about recently when Cleevely was asked to take a look at a salvaged Volkswagen ID.3. The car had been involved in a minor accident in which the airbags had gone off, causing the pyrotechnic fuse to

TOP 5 EV DRIVING TIPS

ABC (ALWAYS BE CHARGING) Especially on early EVs with smaller batteries, it pays to charge little and often. Be that at home, work, or on the road, plugging in whenever you can could save you the unwanted stress of running out of charge.

REGENERATIVE BRAKES Almost every EV has a regenerative braking system that feeds power back into the battery when the car is slowing down or coasting. You can often increase the strength, too, limiting the energy lost when you press the brakes.

SERVICING It’s true that electric cars often need less regular maintenance than petrol or diesel models, but it’s still important to stay on top of servicing. Stick to the schedules and an EV should outlive its equivalent ICE car thanks to fewer moving parts.

BATTERY MANAGEMENT All electric cars hold back a bit of usable capacity to protect the high-voltage battery, but we’d recommend avoiding rapid charging too often. And if you don’t need a full charge, make sure you unplug at 80 per cent.

CLIMATE CONTROL We all know that driving gently can add miles to your projected range, but you’ll save precious miles by switching off the climate control when it’s not needed. Heated seats are great, because they use far less energy than hot air.

activate, cutting power to the car’s drive system. Every VW dealer in the local area said the car needed a brand-new 58kWh battery – at a cost of almost £16,000.

“[The owner] phoned me up and said: ‘the pyrotechnic fuse has gone off, what can you do about it?” Matt says. “So I spoke to HEVRA and said: ‘what do I need to know?’ We researched it, bought the parts, stripped it down; Volkswagen in its ultimate wisdom wrote a line of coding that says these units can never be used again. That they’re scrap. ”

Yet Matt and his team found a workaround, and while it did require VW to input some code, over the air, direct from the brand’s HQ in Wolfsburg, Germany, at the end of the job, Cleevely’s hard work saved the customer thousands.

“That information has been fed back through to HEVRA so every independent garage on the network has it, ” Matt says.

“The two parts were £1,600, plus £450 labour. ”

But while the nature of the business is changing, Matt’s workshop looks and feels like any other service centre or local garage. There are cars of every make and model up on ramps, technicians with torches peering under bonnets to locate those frustrating, erroneous rattles, plus all the noise and furore you’d expect in a place like this.

There’s a couple of people working the phones, which seemingly never stop ringing, plus a small back office, and toolboxes stacked high with all the spanners and wrenches an outfit like this might need. The customer waiting area doubles up as a training room for new staffers, too.

Matt’s vision and passion for what Cleevely does have accelerated the growth of the business in a way he never thought possible. Such is the demand, he’s now taken over the unit next door, as well as the one over the road – with the latter housing a huge number of spare parts that allows Cleevely to be less dependent on third-party suppliers.

That expansion extends beyond the warehouses Cleevely occupies on the Lansdown Industrial Estate, which is two minutes’ walk from the train station, though. Last year the firm launched Cleevely EV Mobile – a remote unit, servicing and repairing electric cars up and down the country.

“I don’t fear change, I try to embrace it, ” Matt tells us. “I’d like to now concentrate on the mobile side of the business; I see this as the biggest area of growth, rather than insisting everyone comes to Cheltenham. ”

Like everything Matt touches, this diversification has been a runaway success, and one that will see the mobile team’s pair of pure-electric MG5s each cover up to 60,000 miles this year. The demand is there; a strong social media presence and repeated positive customer feedback mean the calendar is booked up several weeks in advance.

Whether it’s replacing a faulty traction battery heater on a Mercedes B 250 e, or routine maintenance on an out-of-

SERVICING

Cleevely’s service centre looks and feels like any other, with all makes and models of car up on the ramps

SPARE PARTS

Matt and his team have built up a huge back catalogue of spare parts, allowing them to rely less on third-party suppliers

warranty Kia Soul EV, Cleevely has regular appointments spanning from Exeter to Inverness and beyond.

Asked if Cleevely might consider opening another branch, perhaps in London or the north of England, Matt is understandably apprehensive. “I’m very conscious of our reputation, ” he says. “At every stage of growth I’ve really focused on how it’ll affect our reputation and whether we’re spreading ourselves too thin. There have been times when we’ve been close to letting people down. I don’t want to let people down; it’s my family name above the door. ”

SALES

Cleevely not only looks after those who’ve already made the switch to electric, it also has a selection of second-hand EVs (below) for sale on-site

MaintainingusedEVs INSIDESTORY

OUR TOP 5 USED EVs

BMW i3

FROM £12,995

WITH a carbon-fibre chassis, 50kW rapid charging, Tardis-like packaging and typical BMW handling, the i3 was just what buyers wanted in a small EV – 10 years ago. The electric city car has just gone out of production, but there’s plenty of choice on the used market. Our advice would be to buy as new a car as you can afford; later models got a bigger battery for vastly improved range.

TESLA MODEL S

FROM £30,000

THE original long-range electric car, the Model S’s popularity has been far surpassed by the much cheaper Model 3 in recent years, but this is where the Tesla story truly started. Boosted by the fantastic Supercharger charging network, few EVs are as easy to live with. Quality can leave a little to be desired, but early versions still feel modern thanks to their huge portrait touchscreens.

RENAULT ZOE

FROM £7,250

IT’S far from perfect, but for many motorists, the Zoe will be the ideal starter EV. Small, simple to drive and remarkably efficient, it’s a mystery why every two-car household doesn’t have one of these on the driveway. There’s loads of choice on the used-car market, but beware that some are still subject to a monthly battery lease, which can add significantly to your monthly outgoings.

NISSAN LEAF

FROM £5,000

LIKE the Zoe, the Leaf was one of the first truly mass-market EVs to go on sale. Now in its second generation, the Nissan is one of the best-selling electric cars of the past decade. Early Mk1 models will manage around 60 miles of range, while the newest cars (right) can do 200 miles or more. It’s practical, too, with enough space for the whole family and their luggage.

VOLKSWAGEN e-GOLF

FROM £15,995

IF you want a familiar-feeling EV and one that can slip into your life without hiccup, few models do it as well as the Volkswagen e-Golf. It looks like any other VW, and drives like one, too. All the controls are easy to understand, and even early models will do more than 100 miles on a charge. Topping up is easy, too, because every version gets CCS rapid charging as standard.

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