Aviloo, a German-based electric car battery diagnostics expert, has launched its own third-party battery warranty that used car buyers can rely on if they're concerned about long-term battery health and reliability.
How does Aviloo's battery warranty work?
Basically, it's very much like any aftermarket or extended car warranty - you pay an annual fee, and your battery is covered against major faults, or falling below a certain state-of-charge, or SOH, the indication of a battery's overall healthy.
How does Aviloo work out that SOH figure?
Aviloo already supplies an independent battery health check service, called the Flash Test, which can be plugged into an electric car's diagnostic port (it currently works with 96 per cent of all electric car brands), and which provides information on the battery's health. Most importantly, it works out how much of the original charging capacity the battery retains. From this, then, Aviloo can work out how much the SOH is likely to change over the course of 20,000km or one year, and from that, the warranty cover is established.
What happens when the SOH level is breached?
Simple - you get a payout. If the battery falls below the pre-agreed SOH, then you'll get a payment of €3,000 from Aviloo, plus a refund of the original health check costs. That may not cover the replacement of an entire battery, but it will certainly go some way to defraying any potential repair costs.
The warranty will be open to individuals to purchase, but critically, it will also be available to garages and car dealers, who may be able to use it to give themselves backup so that they can stand over a warranty for a second-hand electric car. Both should add as a major bulwark for consumer confidence in the second-hand electric car market, a market which has grown by 31 per cent so far in Ireland this year.
Where is the Aviloo warranty available?
The Aviloo battery warranty is already available in France and Sweden, and it's launching in Ireland in July. After that, it will be rolled out in the UK, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland.
"The Aviloo Battery Warranty raises the used electric vehicle market to a new level”, said Aviloo CEO Marcus Berger: "For the first time in Ireland, we are providing the foundation for a warranty based solely on objective, independent measurement data. This builds trust and gives Irish dealers and buyers a level of certainty that simply has not existed before.
"With the Battery Warranty, we are setting a new industry standard. It provides orientation for all market participants, strengthens the decision in favour of electric mobility, and ensures that used EVs are perceived not as a risk, but as a sustainable and trustworthy option for the future.”
What's Aviloo's background?
Aviloo will be a new name to Irish consumers in general, but it is a serious company. Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Porsche Holding have all selected AVILOO as their preferred third-party battery testing provider for dealerships across Europe, with the 'Flash Test' used on both own-brand and trade-in vehicles. Leasing companies Ayvens, Arval, and BCA, as well as European dealer groups such as Hedin and Emil Frey, also use Aviloo.