Photo by Wanda Hanson
With the increased push for electronic and hybrid vehicles, people need to worry not only about charging locations, but also repairs and battery replacements for those EVs and hybrids. Where in Houston and Fillmore County is that possible? A total of 10 repair shops were contacted.
No repair shops in Fillmore or Houston County currently work on EVs; they have not even seen an EV come to their shops. When asked where they would send an EV owner in search of repairs, the usual answer was the dealership from which they bought the vehicle.
According to Leigh Volkman of L & L Volkman, it is impossible to even purchase parts for Teslas — the company does not allow sales of parts to other shops. In order to become certified to repair Teslas, a mechanic needs to take a $250,000 course from Tesla. With few Teslas in the area, this is not a good financial decision. The nearest Tesla certified repair shops are in the Twin Cities and Chicago.
As far as working on hybrid cars goes, Hi Tech Auto in Rushford is leading the way. Mike Peterson not only does general maintenance on hybrids, but also replaces the main batteries. Peterson specializes in Toyotas and Prius hybrids.
In order to do this specialized work, he has needed to purchase electronic analysers and other equipment.
He is heavily into hybrid servicing and sales, which keeps him very busy. At this point he has no desire to add EV servicing. Peterson feels that Teslas have a lot of problems with a tendency to spontaneously catch fire in part because of their lithium batteries.
Peterson sold his first Prius in 2010. The same customer came back and bought another Prius after the first one went for 400,000 miles. The original car was then serviced and given to the man’s granddaughter. Peterson touts the Prius as being the longest lived with the least maintenance of all cars.
To change a battery, Peterson often purchases batteries from relatively new cars that were in accidents, He takes all the battery cells out of those batteries and places them in the original car battery. This method allows Peterson to replace a battery for between $1,500 and $2,300 including labor — much less expensive than a new battery.
Batteries are expected to last around 15 years in total so the replacements will easily run 13 years or so. A Prius has 28 cells in its battery while a Camry has 34.
According to Peterson, many of the “rebuilt” batteries advertised on the internet have had only a few cells replaced which then last a short time.
News of Peterson’s work has spread. He has had customers come to his shop for battery replacement from Nemo, S. Dak.; San Diego, Calif.; and even from Maui, Hawaii! The owner of that car had heard about Hi Tech from their father-in-law who lives in La Crosse. They shipped their car on a ship from Hawaii, drove it to Minnesota, got it repaired and then returned to Hawaii.
Other auto shops in the area — McCabe Repairs of Fountain, Craig’s Auto of Mabel, Preston Service Plus, Anderson Auto in Rushford and Chatfield Body Shop — work on general maintenance of the gasoline part of hybrids, but do not work on the electric part.
Justin of Preston Service Plus opined, “We’ll have to get on board with it and get with the times.” At this time, however, the technology is so new and very few customers have chosen to purchase either EVs or hybrids.
Leigh Volkman did point out that he does need to disconnect the main batteries on hybrids in order to do any welding or other high heat work. Of course he also then reconnects the batteries.
Isaac Hurst of Southland Auto and Diesel in Spring Valley also reported that they have worked on the general maintenance for hybrids. In addition, they have cleaned electrical systems and battery components on some hybrids. At this time they haven’t replaced a whole battery.
Hurst noted, however, that he likes to keep up on the electrical systems on newer cars including the ADAS (Advanced Driver Alert Systems) which include cruise control, lane assist, sensors and cameras. As Hurst put it, “We won’t be going backwards on any of that soon!”
Hurst and his techs have attended beginner training classes on both EVs and hybrids as well as done some online seminars and training from GM and AC Delco in order to learn more about what is coming in the future. He commented, “Some people can benefit from EVS.” Hurst wants to be prepared for the future needs of his customers.
Mark Nesler of Nesler Auto in Houston said he does general maintenance on both hybrid and EVs, but does not work on the electronic parts of the cars. He shared that he has customers who currently own EVs. One is new and still under warranty so its taken to the dealership for any repairs; the other is owned by someone who drives his EV to Bemidji with a charging stop in the Twin Cities. Nesler says he definitely plans on getting educated in servicing EVs so he can serve his customers.
The auto shop owners are well aware of the changes coming for servicing cars; they recognize they’ll need to make decisions in the future whether they add more services to be able to work on EVs and hybrids.
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