EV companies should open up their servicing to all to move to next level
What is our biggest concern as EV owners? That our roadside mechanic cannot fix our EV like they can do any petrol bike or car. That's the key to EVs taking over.
My colleague told me today that there was shortage of petrol in PCMC area. Some pumps had run out of petrol. Some were giving only 200 rupees petrol to each. I own a petrol bike also and it hurts but I also own an EV and it got me thinking on when EVs will dethrone petrol vehicles.
The biggest concern I have is that for my bike, Matter Aera, there is only one place I can service it in Pune. There is sadly only one dealership. I don't know why but that's far from my place. If I have an issue, should I always go that far? If this is my situation in a city where there is a dealership, what about other places? Even if my bike had say 300kms range, can I get the confidence to take it say to Ratnagiri? What if there is an electronics or software issue midway? No one can help me. I only have to depend on RSA which will also probably cost me later and also ruin my ride.
How cool would it be if I had the tools which they use at the service centre to identify issue and may be even fix it? Or even better, how cool would it be if a mechanic near Chiplun can fix my bike? If there will be a day when EVs will dominate, how can it happen without roadside mechanics being able to fix our bikes? How will we ever get the confidence?
I think EV companies are just afraid. It's all new technology and they probably want to hide the issues or they think that if this becomes public, they will lose ability to make money. I think they are wrong. I think it will boost confidence of potential customers and hence boost sales. Which petrol bike does not have issues? All of them have but most issues can be fixed by mechanics outside. With EVs, there are many more electronics units and there is some special knowledge required but I am sure the mechanics will be more than willing to learn. May be even some bike owners might be willing to learn. Imagine the huge workforce that the companies will get. Can they ever open the number of service centres across a country as big as India? They never can.
Any industry or entity is only as strong as the number of people who are working for it. Wonder why these companies don't realise it. They are basically recruiting a country wide workforce.
What about warranty? Don't care. Do petrol bike companies cover warranty if a roadside mechanic opened and fixed something? Not required. It will help if the companies also provided a call centre which will help people trying to fix their bikes. May be they need to use AI calling agents because costs may be high to hire so many people.
Also, these EV companies can actually start selling their diagnostic kits. Let's say it's 10,000 bucks. Will a roadside mechanic not buy if there are enough such vehicles around? May be some owners may also buy. It will be a whole new source of revenue for them. They can make some profit there too.
And I can peacefully go to even Ladakh may be knowing well that someone midway will be able to help me. And ya, I will need a 300-400km range for that but that's a different story. Not for today.
What do you guys think? I don't drive cars but this should be true for EV cars too. No?