From May 2023 to the end of June 2023, IMR interviewed 1,000 independent repair shops across the U.S., hoping to gain insight into their service exposure to BEV and HEV vehicles.
Additionally, IMR gained insight into each shop's investment in tools and equipment and training for BEVs/HEVs, whether they market these service capabilities, and their view of when they believe BEVs and HEVs will impact their business.
Of the vehicles serviced at independent repair shops that service BEVs (68.5 percent of independent repair shops surveyed), 3.5 percent of the vehicles they worked on were BEVs. When it came to HEVs, 80 percent of the shops surveyed serviced HEVs, with 5.9 percent of those shops' vehicles being HEVs.
Over the past few years, of the independent repair shops that service BEVs, 95.8 percent have seen an increase in the number of those vehicles coming to their shop for service. Additionally, out of the shops that service HEVs, over the past two years, 97.3 percent have witnessed an increase in the number of those vehicles coming to their shop for service.
IMR notes that while these shops have seen an increase in these vehicles coming in for service and repair, 55 percent do not actively market or advertise that their shop is specifically capable of servicing BEVs and HEVs. Shops with one to three bays tend to market that service capability less (33.7 percent) than their larger competitors (49.2 percent).
Amongst all independent repair shops, 43 percent have invested in tools and equipment to service BEVs/HEVs and 42.3 percent have invested in BEV/HEV training for their technicians. As far as keeping up to date on industry trends on BEVs and HEVs, 53.1 percent of shops say that their primary supplier keeps them up to date.
When it comes to the impact of increasing numbers of BEVs and EVs on the road, 54.4 percent of shops believe it will have an impact on their business over the next two years; 36.9 percent do not, and 8.7 percent don't know. Of the 36.9 percent that do not believe the increasing number of BEVs and EVs will impact their business in the next two years, 44.7 percent believe it will take 10 years or longer to see an impact; 8.9 percent believe it will never impact their business.
