Get ready for EVs now, Delphi boss urges technicians

The best step garages in the automotive aftermarket can take is to get its technicians ready for the electric vehicle age, especially those working for independent firms.

That’s according to Neil Fryer, vice president and general manager of Delphi parent PHINIA, who told CAT that while combustion powered vehicles will inevitably still require the majority of the support, the need for EV work will begin to build in the coming years.

He said: “We see our role as helping the technician to be ready for the vehicles that are coming into the market.”

Fryer noted that demand from learners is there, with 40% of courses undertaken at Delphi Academy – which recently underwent a heavy £500,000 expansion – last year focussed on EVs.

“That’s because they [technicians] don’t want to have to say no to a customer if they come to their workshop with an EV,” explained Fryer. “If they have to say, sorry, I can’t work on EVs, they turn the customer away, and they don’t want to do that.”

This is especially pertinent to independent garages, he adds, because “your life is very different to a dealer, because you don’t know if you’re going to see a Ford or Fiat or whatever else it is. So you’ve got to be able to work on all those different makes and powertrains”.

Speaking about Delphi’s role in this, he said: “So we see it’s really about that support, and more than that, it’s making sure that we make available the parts for internal combustion engine vehicles and EVs, because it’s fine if you know how to repair it, but you need to be able to buy the parts somewhere as well, otherwise you can’t do the repair. So, you know, that’s really where we see our role.”

His comments follow a similar path to Kevan Wooden, LKQ Euro Car Parts boss, who said that garages should invest in EV equipment and upskill staff now. Those who do, claimed Wooden, would “have the opportunity to make a lot of money”.

Looking at EV repairs, Fryer said Delphi would be creating a host of new parts that would be “propulsion agnostic”, meaning they can be used for ICE, electrified and fully electric vehicles as a way of future-proofing its stock.

He said: “We will see an expansion of the products that we offer, which are propulsion agnostic. We already cover, for example, many EVs for steering and suspension parts, brake pads and so on, and increasingly, sensors as well.”

Asked when demand for EV parts may take off, Fryer said “we’ll have to wait and see”, but added that key components for electric cars, such as motors, are the most likely to be offered by the aftermarket, given their similarities to today’s starter motors.

He said: “I think that for us, one of the things we’ll want to think about is how remanufacturing of EV powertrain components develops in the aftermarket. And you can think about electric motors, which are quite close in technology to starters and alternators.

“Those are remanufactured today, and maybe EV drive motors will be, will be remanufactured in future.”

Elsewhere, replacement batteries – especially refurbished – are expected to be another big business in the EV market, but Fryer said that when, and whether, this takes off “is still an open question”.

He added: “Technology may change if we move to Solid State batteries and stuff like that, then I’m not sure what the serviceability of those will be. So we’ll have to see, but we, as a company, are open to all of those things, and if there’s an aftermarket opportunity that makes sense for us, then we would want to go after that.

“So we have lots of opportunities to develop, but we also have a core business which we need to nurture and make sure it continues to do what we do today for our customers for many years to come.”

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