LONDON/DETROIT –
A race is on to certify battery health and performance in used electric vehicles, with a clutch of startups scrambling to help buyers figure out how much a secondhand EV is really worth.
With traditional combustion-engine cars, mileage and years racked up can quickly tell prospective buyers how much they should fork out. That formula does not work with EVs — whose value depends largely on their battery’s driving range and ability to hold a charge.
Until recently, there was no way to measure battery health, hampering used EV sales. But that is changing as companies rush to scale up EV battery tests — some of which take just minutes.
