Electric vehicle After-Sales Study 2023

Automotive after-sales for electromobility: experiences and expectations of workshops and the manufacturer hotline

The proportion of electric cars on the market is increasing. Hence, more and more e-cars are coming into the workshop. Given that the automotive after-sales is becoming increasingly important for electromobility.

Since the EV after-sales study surveys the experiences of e-car drivers in the first few years of use it is focused on experiences with the workshop and the manufacturer hotline.

The EV after-sales study was conducted online in June and November 2023 not only among N = 2,154 eCar drivers in the DACH region. In addition, the survey was conducted with N = 404 drivers of combustion vehicles of all brands. Thus makes it possible to show how e-cars differ from combustion vehicles in after-sales.

The vehicle ownership period ranged from 12 to 60 months (36 months on average).

Comparative data from previous years is available for most of the results.

Download Study Excerpt

Automotive after-sales for electromobility:
CONTENTS AND ADDED VALUE OF THE EV AFER SALES STUDY

Content of the EV After-Sales Study

Segmentation criteria:

  • Place of purchase, new vs. used car
  • Driving habits (mileage per year and per weekday, frequency of long-distance journeys)
  • Company car
  • Workshop or service type (safety-oriented, technology-oriented, workshop-averse)

Workshop visit:

  • Work carried out (last stay)
  • Type of contact vs. preferred type of contact
  • Reasons for choosing a workshop
  • Comparison offers
  • Timely and complete execution of the work (reasons if not)
  • Satisfaction with the workshop (friendliness of the staff, advice, impression of the workshop, short notice, speed of execution, quality of the work, explanation of the work, cost estimate, price / performance)
  • Compensation for repair duration > 2 weeks
  • E-car as a replacement vehicle
  • Free recharging during workshop visit
  • NPS Workshop
  • Recommendations to brand and dealer for workshop
  • Trust in brand workshops, independent workshops and workshop chains
  • Evaluation of service and repair costs compared to the combustion engine
  • Newsletter of the workshop, general interest in and value of newsletters

Service hotline:

  • Hotline experience
  • Reason for contact
  • Type of contact, preferred contact, satisfaction with contact
  • Omni-channel experience
  • Satisfaction with the hotline in general
  • Disappointing experiences, surprisingly positive experiences
  • Recommendations to hotline operators
  • Interest in additional service ideas

Digital services:

  • Use of paid digital services, services used
  • Type of use
  • Desire for chargeable extension after expiry
  • Desired services in general

Software updates:

  • Updates received
  • Workshop visit necessary for update
  • Type of updates
  • Update problems
  • Recommendations for updates

Data protection:

  • Sufficient information on data protection
  • Trust / concerns about abuse
  • Sense of disturbance regarding the use of data by third parties

Battery checks:

  • Interest in regular battery checks
  • Trust in different providers
  • Interest in battery checks when selling a vehicle, buying a used car
Target group of the survey

Only owners and drivers of fully battery-electric e-cars were surveyed for the study. The average holding period of the respondents was 2.5 years. This ensured that all respondents had sufficient experience with the after-sales processes of the dealers and manufacturers.

Added value and benefit for manufacturers and operators of charging infrastructure

The content of this study is mainly aimed at after-sales organisations of vehicle manufacturers and importers (NSCs), workshop operators and dealer developers.

The study shows what expectations e-car drivers have of communication processes and on-site support and with which offers they can be successfully addressed. The study shows the strengths and weaknesses of competitors and enables benchmarking of own after-sales processes.

The EV After-Sales Study provides KPIs for important process steps in after-sales and hotline operations. After-sales experts can evaluate and improve their own competitive position. Furthermore, the study provides a sound basis for designing and adapting dealer training to the needs of eMobility. Furthermore, the study offers product managers of connectivity services and other services, such as battery checks, valuable information on the acceptance and development of corresponding offers.

Dashboard for analysis

Many exciting findings only become apparent when the results are evaluated separately according to important customer groups. This allows providers to target their offers to different user segments in a differentiated way. Thanks to the high sample size, subscribers to the study can split the results in the interactive dashboard as they wish and analyse them in detail. In addition, the dashboard shows all pre-clustered verbatim mentions of the respondents.

USCALE Focus Studies: User studies on electromobility

Since 2018, USCALE has been systematically surveying EV drivers about their expectations and experiences at all touchpoints of the e-mobile customer journey. You can find an overview of all USCALE focus studies HERE.

We show extracts from other studies in the LinkedIn articles by USCALE and Axel Sprenger, our company founder.

If you have any questions, please contact us at contact@uscale.digital.