Auction companies put battery health front and center

“Anybody that’s dealing with electric cars right now is getting a lot of questions about the battery, and making folks feel comfortable about the battery health is really important to selling them,” ADESA President John Hammer told Automotive News.
Since adding the feature, ADESA has seen a 7 to 9 percent lift in conversion — when cars offered in auction channels actually sell — on vehicles with Range Score badging compared with similar vehicles that don’t have it, Hammer said. ADESA did not disclose when it started using the badging and gathering that data.

“The other thing that we’ve seen is a lift in the prices that we get for them,” Hammer said. “We’re seeing $4,000 to $7,000 increases.”

Developing a more comprehensive battery health diagnostic tool is also a priority for Manheim, the largest U.S. vehicle auction company.

It is working on that with Spiers New Technologies, a battery life cycle management provider acquired by Manheim in 2021. Manheim is conducting battery health tests at six of its high-EV volume locations in California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Washington and intends to expand the effort to other locations later, the company said in a press release.

The batteries of used EVs are tested for the state of their charge and energy capacity, and that data is used to create an overall battery health score that ranges from 1 to 5, according to Manheim. Those EV health details are included on condition reports for the vehicles tested and sold at those locations. Used EVs with a battery health score receive roughly five times more views and bids than those that don’t have one, the company said in the release.