ŠKODA's service partners have had to add a new expertise to their portfolio in recent years. The advent of electric vehicles has meant that they’ve had to learn to deal with the cars’ high-voltage electrical system. This places new demands on service technicians in terms of both knowledge and safety. For the customer, though, these cars are in fact a relief as far as regular servicing goes.
The ŠKODA ENYAQ iV SUV is proof of this. “The ENYAQ iV is the first ŠKODA whose service frequency is not influenced by mileage. The car ought to be serviced regularly every two years,” says Karel Starý, Head of After Sales at ŠKODA Czech Republic. So the electric SUV’s owners don’t have to keep an eye on their mileage at all.
This in itself brings savings, especially for drivers who cover a lot of ground during the year and whose car would otherwise have to be serviced twice in the course of one year. ŠKODA cars with combustion engines are due for servicing after 15,000 or 30,000 kilometres, or after one or two years, whichever comes first. The ENYAQ iV therefore eliminates the need for compulsory servicing, especially at higher mileages, which of course saves the owner time and money.
As with other clean electric vehicles, regular service checks are also cheaper for the ENYAQ iV than for cars with combustion engines. The reason is simple: there’s no need to change the oil, oil and fuel filters or spark plugs. The only standard tasks left are changing the interior dust and pollen filter, brake fluid, and checking the air conditioning, wipers and other consumables. Electric cars also have to have their coolant changed after a few years, but even this is cheaper than similar servicing for conventional cars.
And an electric car saves on service costs in other ways, too. “Thanks to recuperation, electric cars go easier on the braking system, and there is no need to replace worn parts such as timing belts, injectors, the clutch, dual-mass flywheel, particulate filters, EGR valve, turbocharger and other parts,” says Karel Starý.
Battery life can be a concern for drivers who are not yet very familiar with electric cars. But EV owners don’t have to lose sleep over this either. While the battery as a whole is still by far the most expensive component of an electric car, situations where the owner has to replace the entire battery are very rare. If the battery degrades over time and causes problems, it’s sufficient to replace only the specific module that is worst-affected. Replacing it is financially comparable to a major job on an internal combustion engine car, such as replacing the turbocharger.
But of course, there is good advice that EV owners and drivers can follow to help extend the life of the battery. “In general, we emphasise that users should understand and follow the instructions and recommendations in the user manual for battery care and car care,” Starý adds. And he points out that batteries generally do not benefit from frequent use of fast charging, and will stay “healthy” for the longest time if they remain within the 20-80% charging range as much as possible. Nor do owners need to worry about possible battery degradation due to self-discharge over long periods when the car is idle. The battery capacity of an idle vehicle declines only very slowly and actual battery damage only occurs in extreme situations.
As our Digital Dealership grows we know that more buyer confidence is needed throughout the online buying process and to assist we have introduced the Western Motors Group Used Car Grading System. The system has been devised to offer more transparency to our customers and to provide an easy guide as to the quality of the used car being sold.
