Prospects and Features of Electric and Hybrid Car Battery Repair

Electric and hybrid car sales are breaking records every year. Active marketing campaigns and government subsidies for environmentally friendly modes of transport contribute to this process. Globally, electric vehicle sales are up 68 per cent from 2021. At the end of 2022, 7.8 million electric cars will have been sold worldwide.

At the end of 2022, there will be 7.8 million electric cars sold worldwide.

What is the market situation for electric cars and hybrids?"

In the European car market for 2022, electric vehicles accounted for 14 per cent (1,575,079 units) of the total number of cars sold. Plug-in hybrid cars accounted for 9 per cent (1,013,827 units). However, sales of electric cars across Europe are not uniform. The main share of sales comes from countries such as: Germany, France, UK, Norway, Netherlands. And for example, in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia sales of new cars are extremely low, but there is a great demand for used electric cars.

In Europe, Volkswagen is the leading brand in sales of both electric and hybrid cars. Volkswagen sold 349,147 electric cars and 183,065 plug-in hybrids in Europe through 2022. Tesla is in second place with 232,108 units. Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen, part of the Stellantis Corporation is in third place. Also of note is the Geely Group's strong sales growth of 122 per cent.

The U.S. electric vehicle market in 2022 marked just under 918,500 electric vehicles sold. The sales leader, as it has been for years before, is Tesla with the Model Y and Model 3. The Ford Mustang Mach-E and Chevrolet Bolt EV/EUV are in third and fourth place.

2022 was also a record year for electric car sales in China. At the end of the year, more than 5.92 million new electric passenger cars and hybrids found their owners:

• BEV – 4.35 million units
• PHEV – 1.57 million units

With Chinese manufacturers accounting for the bulk of the sales.

As we can see from the above data, the car market continues to see growth in electric vehicle sales and strong demand for plug-in hybrids. The increase in the number of electric and hybrid cars is leading to an increase in demand for high-voltage battery repair and hybrid battery reconditioning services.

Electric vehicle and hybrid car battery repair

High-voltage battery repair – is a complex task that requires personalised attention, ongoing training, safety precautions and the right equipment.

Troubleshooting electric car and hybrid batteries involves a number of steps:

– Initial diagnosis of the traction battery with a diagnostic scanner on the vehicle.

– Removal of the battery from the vehicle and disassembly.

– Determining with a lithium-ion battery tester or nimh battery tester the state of potentially faulty modules, or diagnosing the whole battery. It all depends on the specific situation, battery type, age and mileage of the vehicle.

– Based on the results of the module diagnostics, the fault location is localised. Traction battery failures are not always due to faulty modules that have lost their capacity. There may be BMS (Battery Managment System) faults, damaged wiring, faults in the thermoregulation system, etc. Only if the electronic mechanic has the right equipment will he be able to determine the exact cause of the fault.

– This is followed by troubleshooting, replacing faulty modules if necessary, and reassembling the battery.

– The final stage is to check the battery performance when it is charged on the vehicle and on a test run. In some electric and hybrid cars, battery errors disappear only after several discharge-charging cycles and a small mileage. For example, this is how the P0A80 error in Lexus CT 200h, Lexus RX 450h, Toyota Prius (second generation) is resolved.