A potential ‘charging crisis’ could soon emerge among vehicle remarketing companies as electric vehicles start to make their way onto the used market in larger numbers, the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) warns.

The industry body, which represents businesses that handle, sell, inspect, transport or manage more than 1.5 million used cars and vans every year, points out that the demands for power on some sites will be considerable.

‘We have some members who process tens of thousands of vehicles every month. Currently, it is just a question of ensuring that there is sufficient fuel in the tank of each but looking ahead, a large proportion will be EVs, especially following the Government’s 2035 commitment,’ says VRA chair Sam Watkins.

‘Those remarketing companies will need to make sure that EVs are charged to a useable degree simply to move them around, and comply to best practise for storage scenarios. Once an EV has a flat battery, the movement of it becomes a challenge as they must be handled in line with correct safety protocols which differ from internal combustion engines.’

‘Really, the only way at present to ensure that they will all have sufficient power is to install a lot of chargers - perhaps hundreds on some large sites that are used for storage by manufacturers and leasing companies,’ he adds.

This could place huge demands on local electricity supplies, warns Mr Watkins, especially as more power-hungry superchargers are introduced.

The VRA warns that the issue does not just affect large remarketing companies but also individual dealerships, many of whom were already operating from cramped sites.

‘If you are selling and servicing large numbers of EVs, then charging again becomes a concern and it is not inconceivable that even a medium-sized dealership might need a dozen chargers on-site until new charging solutions are evolved,’ said Mr Watkins.

‘We are looking at a situation where the remarketing of EVs might require careful consideration by many different kinds of business in our sector purely to ensure that sufficient charging is available.’