What knowledge do sellers have about electric cars?

Is it easy to sell a car? Any dealership advisor will probably tell you it's not that simple. What about an electric car?

Not all customers understand the difference between an electric car and a hybrid, or its advantages over a combustion engine. We forgive our customers for their lack of knowledge. What if the seller lacks knowledge?If a salesperson can't clearly answer a customer's questions, what are the chances the customer will leave the showroom with a new electric car?

We decided to check, how prepared are car showrooms to serve customers interested in electric cars. We contacted dealerships from 11 major car brands. During our phone conversations, we discussed several issues related to electric cars, including:

• Does the brand offer an electric car model?
• Is it available immediately in the showroom?
• Is it possible to conduct a test drive?
• How is an electric car better than hybrid cars?
• How many electric car charging points are there in Poland?
• Is charging at these stations free or paid?
• How long does it take to charge a completely discharged battery?
• How many kilometers can you drive with a fully charged battery?
• Can any service center of this brand repair an electric car in the event of a breakdown?
• How long is the warranty on an electric car and its battery? How much will it cost to replace the battery after the warranty period?

The conclusions are not obvious ☺.

Do we even have electric cars? 

Our analysis shows that out of 11 brands, 6 offer electric cars, and they are available for immediate purchase at the showrooms of 3 manufacturers. a clear leader in accessibility. Every brand's showroom has an electric car available "immediately." Bravo!

In other cases, you'll need to place an order and wait. According to advisors, the estimated waiting time for your ordered car can range from 2 weeks to 6 months.

Interestingly, in one case, the employee was unaware that their brand offered electric cars. He claimed that:

"Brand N [who I work for] intends to launch a fully electric vehicle in two years. I don't know much about it, but I know it's the future of the automotive industry. I'm just a salesperson and don't know anything about cars other than the ones I sell." You can do it anyway ☺.

At the showroom of the second brand, the situation is reversed, but no less astonishing: the brand doesn't yet produce electric cars, and yet the advisors are already selling them! We know what I mean: Employees of this brand's showrooms offer the hybrid as an electric car.

Is it possible to conduct a test drive?

5 out of 6 producers offering electric cars, offers customers a test drive. But only 1 mark offers the opportunity to take a test drive in each of its showrooms.

How is an electric car better than hybrid cars?

Salespeople aren't always able to explain in detail how an electric car differs from a hybrid. But when they do discuss the differences, they emphasize the electric car: "costs nothing to operate", "strong acceleration", "quiet and economical"", "different comfort, turns better, doesn't burn, doesn't smoke, made of better materials", "we don't refuel", "good performance", "small range, but we can charge it anywhere".

Sellers also mention the limitations of using an electric car. For example, there was an opinion that "it takes a lot of time to start driving this car well". Why? We don't know anymore.

Moreover, according to some sellers, "these are cars only for driving around the city"They claim that hybrids are better than electric cars, among other reasons, because "they have no limited range"This is true, but given the development of the network of charging points, the situation should change.

Question: will so many arguments convince the customer to buy?

One for all, all for one

Even though dealerships within a single brand sell the same cars, they have their own answers to technical questions. For example, if you want to know how long it takes to charge a dead battery, you'll hear from one manufacturer that it will take from 25 minutes to 2.5 hours. But elsewhere this time is from 45 minutes to 8 hours.  Note: This applies to the same car model.

The big unknown is battery replacement cost, which, alongside the long charging time, may be the biggest deterrent for drivers from purchasing this type of vehicle. Most sellers avoided answering this question, with a few even quoting prices in the 20,000-35,000 PLN range. Admittedly, that's quite a lot.

The battery warranty seems to be a strong point of the offer. The longest declared time is up to 12 years.

When it comes to car range, sellers also provide different numbers – from just 50 kilometers to over 400.

Charge me up

According to the Alternative Fuels Market Observatory, in Poland There are approximately 150 car charging points. It is true that there are dozens of advanced points, and the rest are ordinary sockets provided, for example, by private owners or gas stations – in them the car can be charged much slower.

But do sellers know this? Most of them provide a number between 5 and 20 points. Regarding charging costs, after talking to sellers, it's difficult to say whether charging cars is free or paid.

We know that in most cases, you can charge your car for free. Although this year, Tesla started charging fees at their Supercharger stations, but that's another story.

 What about repairs?

As for car repairs, sellers of 3 out of 6 brands assure that in each of their service centers it will be possible to repair such a car in the event of a breakdown.

And what in the end?

Unfortunately, salespeople's knowledge of electric cars is currently limited. Currently, a knowledgeable "enthusiast" customer will likely know more details about electric cars than the average salesperson.

In the context of sales plans and the development of electric motoring, attention should be paid to the level of employee training and preparation for selling this type of cars.

Wondering how your salespeople performed in this study? Contact us.

Methodology: The Mystery Caller study was conducted in showrooms of the following car brands: Opel, Renault, Nissan, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes/Smart, Mazda, Toyota, Hyundai, and Ford. The study was conducted in Warsaw in July 2017.