Despite all the noise, the negative talk, the pullback from automakers and global trends, Canadians are still turning out to buy electric vehicles.
New EV registrations grew in the second quarter of 2024, making up 74 per cent of zero-emission vehicle registrations, according to Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, S&P Global Mobility reported that BEVs made up 9.9 per cent of all new vehicle registrations, while plug-in hybrids were another 3.5 per cent. Both numbers are all-time highs.
Meanwhile, the number of new internal combustion engine vehicles continues to drop. Once at 82 per cent at the start of 2023, ICE vehicles made up 75 per cent in Q2 2024 — still a dominant number but one that is trending down.
At Eccles Auto Service in Dundas, Ontario, owner Scott and his father Bruce Eccles, who has since transitioned into semi-retirement, have been navigating this transition head-on.
It was a television commercial that got the wheels turning to offer EV services. What started as a small investment in public charging stations and EV-trained technicians has blossomed into one that has become a go-to destination for EV owners in their community, providing everything from routine maintenance to specialized high-voltage work, albeit rarely at the moment. They even added a sign to the shop that showcases their EV service capabilities.
But as they’ve discovered, servicing these next-generation vehicles requires a unique skillset and mindset shift — one that not all shops and customers have been quick to embrace.
In this Q&A, Scott and Bruce share their firsthand insights on the EV service landscape, from building out the right infrastructure to educating customers on evolving maintenance needs. Their experience offers a roadmap for other independent shops looking to future-proof their business and capitalize on the electric revolution
EVW: Can you start by giving me an overview of your EV business? I imagine it’s still a small portion of your overall operations.
SE: The EV side of our business is still pretty small. We service around 25 Teslas on a regular basis, and another 20 or so Nissan Leafs, Chevrolet Bolts and ones like that. We probably work on 2,500 cars a year. So it’s a small percentage of EVs we see.
EVW: How are you set up to service EVs?
SE: We have two public charging stations on the side of our main building that anyone can use. Instead of paying for public parking to charge, they can charge here. We also have a phase two and phase one charging setup in the shop itself.
We don’t actually have a dedicated EV bay at the moment. We don’t have enough EVs coming in and EV work to worry about that. And most of that stuff is when you’re dealing with high-voltage systems. In all honesty, most of the stuff has still got warranty on it. And it’s very minimal how much high voltage stuff you actually work on. In the past two years, the amount of times we’ve had to disconnect the high voltage battery and put the gloves on, all that stuff is, like, 10 times. It’s very, very small. Most of the stuff that’s going wrong is the same stuff that goes wrong on every other car, just normal wear and tear on the vehicle.
We have three techs who have gone to EV training of various types. We also invested in a full electrician’s toolkit. That pretty much covers 80 per cent of what you need. And then maybe every once a while you get into a job, you might have to figure out to buy something new. So we just buy stuff as we need it.
An oil change was never just an oil change. Everything got checked. And now it’s not because you’re not getting your oil changed.
— Scott Eccles
EVW: What made you decide to start servicing EVs in the first place?
SE: It was around 2021 and GM had a Super Bowl commercial. Will Farrell came on and said GM is going to bring out 25 EV models by 2025. And I was like, ‘Holy crap. This is coming real fast.’ And then I think like two months later, we had bought an EV, had charging stations installed and then was trying to hunt down decent training, which at first was hard. There wasn’t a ton in Canada, but now we seem to be catching up with that.
EVW: Let’s talk about the education of customers about EVs. How was that process, how has the response been?
SE: The people who don’t know anything about them, when they get in one, they’re always shocked at either how fast it is or quiet it is. It’s a unique experience, the very first time they’re in a car. The people that own them, you kind of have a mixed bag. There are people who always maintain their car, have done their research and understand that these cars need maintenance. And then there are those who have been sold the idea that an EV needs nothing. And educating them is what we need to do.
If I had to throw a person who owns an EV under the bus, the Tesla owner in particular isn’t always the person who is the tech-savvy person — their vehicle is sometimes a status symbol. And those people coming in tend to believe their car needs nothing.
EVW: So there are EV owners out there who don’t know or believe their vehicle needs regular maintenance and service?
BE: The manufacturers have to tell the customer, ‘Hey, these things do need service. There should be service intervals.’
SE: Once we get someone in the shop, we tell them ‘This is what we’re doing.’, We have a maintenance plan set up for them, so they’ll get automatic reminders. At least, we get them in twice a year where the wheels come off, and we check all the stuff you should check. It still has a 12-volt battery. If you own a Tesla, you have maybe a HEPA filter that has a service life on it. They have AC services that even Tesla every four or five years, they want those desiccate bags changed.
An oil change was never just an oil change. Everything got checked. And now it’s not because you’re not getting your oil changed.
EVW: How often do you get that customer who hasn’t opened the hood in a year? What’s their reaction like when they see things that could be going wrong?
SE: Some people are surprised. They don’t know it still has a 12-volt battery. With tires, people are worried about range and efficiency. And that’s part of the maintenance, as well — make sure your tires are good, your tire pressure is good, your alignment is good. All the body panels underneath, all those shields, are very important now. It’s just a change in perspective as to what is important to that customer, compared to a regular gas engine.
EVW: What have you learned about in the process of your customers and working with EVs? Has anything surprised you?
SE: The technology in them is pretty crazy. Certain things, like how the air conditioning works, the heat pump systems in them — that can be pretty complicated.
BE: It seems to me that many of the people who buy electric cars sort reminds me of when I first got in the trade and Volvo owners. Those Volvo owners, back a long time ago, were dedicated to the product and they love their Volvos. And they’d get a million miles on, brag about it. This is way before social media. It seems like a lot of EV owners are that same kind of people, just many generations later.
SE: The cars themselves can be pretty neat. It is weird opening a hood and looking at what looks like to be a computer doesn’t seem normal.
“I think that shops need to educate themselves. Make sure they get training. You may not start seeing a ton of them, but just have familiarity with it and make some small investments.”
— Scott Eccles
EVW: The average age of a battery electric vehicle is three years. There’s still time before most hit the aftermarket sweet spot. How do you see things trending then?
SE: We’re hitting a point where a bunch of the first Tesla Model S which started in 2012 and had a long warranty. So we’re starting to see those. I do think they’re a bit of a disposable car for people. I don’t see the same longevity that you saw, if someone owned, like, a ‘99 Civic that they drove for 300,000 kilometres. You’re not seeing that out of an EV — yet. Hybrid, maybe.
We should be seeing more and more of them come out of warranty, in theory. With the way our business model works, we tend to see those trickle into our service bays. Ask me in a year again.
BE: It does beg the question: Does the car become disposable when the battery costs more than what the car is probably worth? A 12-year-old car needs a needs a battery. Is that worth fixing?
SE: My concern with the battery is that there isn’t enough of them in the market. We had a Nissan Leaf that had wiring damage from rodents and there was no wiring harness available. The car just got scrapped. There’s that, the high costs, availability and whether there will be second and third owners.
These cars, I don’t believe, are going to be on the road as long as your typical ICE engines were, just for that reason. There’s going to be a high investment cost at some point to keep that car on the road. Some people will do it.
The biggest part is that there’s stuff that’s got to be changed, infrastructure-wise and charging system-wise, for them to take off and take a large portion of the market. And then we also have to educate people that these cars still need maintenance. And right now, you have some people who are very perceptive to that and they’ll accept that. And there’s people who think that we’re trying to pull the wool over their eyes and somehow these cars don’t need any maintenance at all. Once we see those fundamental changes in the background, I think you’ll see them go off. If they don’t make those changes. If not, they might be just a stepping stone to whatever we figure out next
EVW: If a shop owner is looking to get started in EVs, what would you recommend to them?
SE: For the most part, if you want to do tires, you don’t need anything. But you have to know the proper lift points — lifting them so you’re not pinching a battery or anything of that. You’d want to get a charger, preferably a Level Two, but a Level One would be just fine if you had any charging issues. And tooling — we bought like a giant tool kit. It wasn’t crazy, like $600 or $700, and it has the majority of insulated tools you need. So you don’t need a lot. You need more training and education on how to properly deal with the high voltage side of it.
I think that shops need to educate themselves. Make sure they get training. You may not start seeing a ton of them, but just have familiarity with it and make some small investments. You don’t need to turn around and invest thousands of dollars into this, hoping cars come in and you can make your money back. I think you can make some minimal investments. Most of it should be in training. For me, tool-wise, the shop bought all the tools so they’re shop tools people can use and not put that burden on the technician. But you can start off pretty cheaply and be able to work on these.
And don’t be scared. Tires are very easy to work on. Don’t think you can’t just because it’s an EV. They’re very easy to work on. They’re not scary.
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