HEVRA - EV Mechanics who drive electric

For this showcase we spoke to Peter Melville founder of HEVRA, the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Repair Alliance, to find out how their network of skilled EV garages and technicians are providing a valuable service and reassurance to the growing number of EV owners here in the UK and overseas.

Repair anxiety may not be a familiar phrase, but it can be a barrier for people looking to get their first EV. With more and more EVs on the road, and with a growing used market, in the unfortunate circumstances that something goes wrong with it, will your local garage have the skillset and tools to fix it?

Well, that is exactly why HEVRA was set up, to support and help drivers, but also to create, train and support a growing network of independent garages with the specialist skills to fix EV specific issues.

Find your nearest UK based specialist HEVRA garage via the link below, and if you’re outside of the UK, simply use the international website link.

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#ElectricVehicles #EVs #EVrepair #EVGarage #EVgarages #HEVRA

[chargeheadsuk]

Fantastic company, having bought a used EV very much supporting HEVRA 👍⚡😋💯

[NicolasRaimo]

Peter really knows his stuff and he's a pleasure to talk to in real life also

[sevenacregreen]

Great video and refreshing content. As the buyer of a s/h ev that has a fault where the dealer is struggling to find an economic repair solution and the main dealer wants 90% of the purchase price to possibly fix it. I can only applaud this initiative. We need to have an eco system that works to get a reasonable long life out of evs. We need a right to repair at a reasonable (economic) cost, not the highly proffitable module swap strategy of the manufaturers and dealers with all the attendant e-waste.

[human_brian]

This is a fantastic service and it will be a huge help as we transition to a majority EV society.

[judebrown]

I'm one of those wanna be owners doing research. We use a lovely independent garage who have saved me hundreds of pounds against the dealership, not least by refusing to do work on faults that didn't exist. Really sad that the last time I spoke to the owner he was utterly ignorant of evs and had no intention of changing or adding to his business. It was right at the beginning of my research a couple of years ago (been isolating so not seen him since) and he thought evs were dangerous because if the battery fails they could stop dead at high speed! I knew he was wrong even then but didn't have enough technical knowledge to put him right. I shall be seeing him again soon and if he's not changed his ideas I'll explain exactly why he's wrong and suggest he contacts HEVRA. If not he has a rival in the same town who is a member and I'll be going there, which is handy.

[ottot]

Great episode and very informative.
We need to start making car makers accountable for a cost and material effective replacement policy for car-parts. Being green is also that it should be possible to repair a car as cost effective as possible.

[maxdraxx]

Gives me confidence driving an 8 year old VW E-Up that’s just left its battery warranty. I’ll look up my local HEVRA garage and switch to them. 👌

[markiliff]

This is such important stuff. Thanks for highlighting it.

[siberx]

For context, the failed component Peter shows is an Analog Devices LTC6802 (a small fairly normal battery monitoring chip, which makes perfect sense). It costs about $17 in moderate quantities. The whole battery monitoring board shown (if Mitsubishi sold it) would probably cost a couple hundred bucks or less as a replacement part.

Really great to see an initiative like this; model-specific information sharing can be a huge boon to troubleshooting and repair productivity, and although EVs require generally less service overall than combustion vehicles, it's still important to have service centers familiar with the (sometimes quite different) components and effective techniques to ensure only the minimum amount of failed components get replaced to ensure they're cost effective to operate.

[JorgeCastro_inf]

Glad to see that there is one repairer in Spain. Hope to see more joining!

[telocity]

My Mitsubishi 2012 I-miev was rear ended while standing still and it was pushed into the Mercedes in front of me. All that was damaged was body panels. No damage to frame or battery pack, was able to drive it home. It was considered totaled since all body panels would have to be shipped from Japan to California and since it was at the start of covid it was scrapped.

[Ruhdddch]

Funny that I bought a 2012 chevy volt here about 10 months ago with 109K miles for my mother's caregiver. She only drove it for 3, 000 miles and last week the big battery died on us. It is only one module (Module 7) that is broke but Chevrolet won't repair it. They want $10K for a replacement battery. Found a mechanic who will buy it for $4K and will try to repair it. I hope he is successful. I have recommended 6 of these used Chevy volts to friends who drive less than 30 miles a day and they all love it. It kind of broke my heart to see this one die on us. Let us hope for more EV mechanics who can work on these cars. Great video and good timing!

[michaelgoode]

If you don't have a Hevra garage near you then from personal experience I would recommend Cleevely EV who are Hevra members and offer a mobile nationwide service and repair option. Their expertise, commitment, customer service and value for money is second to none in my opinion.

[willinwoods]

Great, this is surely a missing link for a lot of (potential) ev buyers! Nice that there are people gathering and sharing a solid knowledge base.

[RZOCUK]

Having had Peter and many of his HEVRA garage helped many of the RZOC owners it's a pleasure to see him here on Fully Charged.

See you at FC In a week 👊

[alanshaw]

A great video that will help make those on the fence be reassured that they have a proficient service even on a second-hand buy.

[frejaresund]

I have been enjoyed, so thank you for delivering.

[GreatCreative]

Interesting point Peter makes about the manufacturer only making a part available as a single unit. I had a faulty bearing in my EV motor, and Kia replaced the entire drive unit. The dealer said it was not possible to just replace the bearing assembly. Fortunately, it was under warranty.

[henriklund]

The story about the battery pack, reminds me of our local electrician, who did exactly that to our fine, somewhat expensive but some years old dishwasher. He found the faulty component on the circuit board and replaced it on the spot by the use of his soldering iron. Don't know if he just has the experience or member of an alliance, like HEVRA, but the dishwasher has since been working flawlessly for years.

[FedericoJrLasta-jupw]

An extra ordinary talent for mechanics to maintain HEVRA, the cost for customer may also be extra!