Spotlight 20 www.aftermarketonline.net JUNE 2024 TMO said the first quarter of 2024 was also a record one in terms of disputes referred to the organisation about electric vehicles, but ‘overall satisfaction still high’ among buyers and ownersA total of 492 EV complaints were brought by consumers in the period, which was the highest volume of EVrelated disputes raised in a single three-month period, according to latest TMO figures. TMO said this reflected the growing UK electric car parc and equated to an 80% increase in the volume of complaints compared to the same quarter in 2023 (273). The 2024 figure also surpassed the previous highest tally for a single quarter recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023 (371). However, to put this into perspective, the number of cases opened in the first quarter about EVs represented less than 1% of disputes submitted by consumers to TMO during the first three months of this year (9,183), and made up fewer than 1% of the total number of EVs on UK roads — according to the latest 2023 EV car parc data (960,896). TMO said this highlights the fact that overall satisfaction continues to be high amongst EV buyers and owners. The main issues encountered by consumers with an EV during the first quarter of 2024 included customer service and purchase (30%). Examples of concerns stated by motorists at the point of sale included orders being cancelled by retailers with no deposit refunds, agreed part exchange values differing to confirmed order form valuations, and businesses not honouring promotional offers. From a maintenance perspective, problems encountered were due to replacement parts being unavailable for repairs and workshops failing to diagnose faults within a vehicle’s active manufacturer warranty period, TMO said. Nearly a fifth of disputes logged with TMO during the first quarter related to the chassis and motor area of an EV (16%). This was similar to the figure seen during the last quarter of 2023 (17%). The electrical infrastructure of an EV, and software driving operating systems, were the third biggest area of discontent during the period, at 13% of complaints, which TMO said was “down encouragingly” from the figure of 16% in the final quarter of 2023. “Issues centred around software updates being performed without a vehicle owner’s knowledge, and corrupting interfaces when applied. Similarly, digital systems were turned off without notice. Other problems also encountered, involved collision control systems activating incorrectly when no other vehicles or hazards were nearby.” TMO said battery-related faults became slightly more prominent during the period (11%), compared to the final quarter of 2023 (6%). Complaints in relation to EVs’ on-board charging systems were among the lesser-reported issues by consumers. Disputes originated from discontent about charging times being slower than advertised at the point of sale, faulty type 2 charging ports, in addition to port locks and on-board charging units failing. EVs also spark complaints spike
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