ABM Q4 - Flipbook - Page 29
OPINION
RE TA I L
The hidden running
cost of the transition
→ Roger Hunter is CEO at Fuuse
M
ost of the conversation
surrounding the EV
transition is around the
impact on drivers, from
the cost of buying an EV
to where they’re going
to charge it. But as EV
sales begin to rival ICE,
the secondary effects of
e-mobility are becoming apparent. One
of those is the impact on dealerships.
As EV volumes grow, most dealers
are running ICE and EV operations side
by side, when they need to be thinking
about them very differently.
The charging connection
Dealership owners are managing fuel
cards alongside a growing network
of charge-points, with two sets of
processes for preparing, demonstrating
and servicing vehicles.
Every EV added to the mix also puts
new demand on power supply. Many
dealerships were never designed with
charging in mind, and grid connections
can be limited, slow and costly to
upgrade. Without dynamic load
balancing, which shares the available
power between chargers and the rest of
the site, a busy morning of charging risks
affecting the workshop, showroom and
everything else.
With petrol and diesel, fuel is a visible,
tracked cost. It is bought by the litre,
logged on fuel cards and allocated to the
department that used it. Dealers know
what a tank costs and who used it.
With EVs, charging disappears into
one site-wide electricity bill, bundled in
with the lighting, heating and workshop
equipment, and the same chargers are
shared across sales, vehicle preparation,
demonstrators, the workshop, staff, fleet
and customers, with no clear view of who
used what, when.
Preparation teams need to charge new
and used stock before handover. Sales
teams need demonstrators ready for test
drives at short notice. Workshops charge
customer cars while they are in for
service. Yet all too often, the cost of all of
it ends up in one big pot.
Time adds another layer of complexity.
An ICE vehicle can be refuelled in
minutes, often on the way to a handover.
Charging can take hours and must
happen on-site, which affects prep
schedules, workshop flow and even
forecourt layout. Electricity prices also
vary by tariff and time of day.
Electrification brings real opportunities
for dealers, but it also means taking on
a new and growing operational cost,
often without the visibility they have
always had with fuel. Unattributed EV
charging is costing dealerships as much
as £300,000, and our research found
that 75% of dealer groups don't currently
track where their EV charging costs come
from. As EV volumes rise, that figure will
only grow, eating into margins that are
already under pressure.
The solution starts with a change in
mindset. Charging should be treated like
any other operational cost: measured,
attributed and reviewed. Charging that
can't be allocated can't be controlled,
and a cost that can't be controlled will
keep chipping away at profitability.
When dealers can see how much
energy is used for preparation,
demonstrations, servicing, staff and
customers, each department can take
ownership. That information also makes
it much easier to judge whether a site
has too many chargers or too few,
whether they are in the right place, and
whether some charging could reasonably
be recovered through pricing or offered
as a paid service.
This is the thinking behind our recently
launched Session Cost Allocation feature.
But whatever approach a dealer takes,
the principle is the same: dealers would
never hand over a tank of fuel without
understanding its cost, so it’s time to
stop doing the same with EVs.
Q4 2026
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
29
