CARY, N.C. -

Shortly after Manheim began putting some real muscle behind its electric vehicle infrastructure plan some two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a major roadblock across multiple lanes of the auto industry.

It was a stoppage that would almost certainly clog automaker investment in EVs — or so the auction company thought.

“One of the things that surprised us in 2020 was that when everything ground to a halt, we actually thought investment from the OEMs into EVs would slow down during the height of the pandemic,” Manheim president Grace Huang said in an interview with Auto Remarketing last week.

“And instead, what happened was, it felt like everybody actually doubled down, and we saw all the headlines — and continue to see the headlines — and continue to see the growth of these electric car companies, like Rivian,” Huang said, referring to an electric truck start-up in which parent company Cox Automotive has invested. “We were actually surprised by the industry response during the pandemic. They're all doubling down.”

In addition to inroads made by relatively new entrants like Tesla, Rivian and others, the traditional powers-that-be in auto manufacturing — like General Motors, which aims to cut all tailpipe emission vehicles from new-vehicle production by 2035 — are also putting their chips on the table.

In a summary of an EV-centric episode of its “Golden Age of Used Vehicles Podcast” podcast, J.D. Power Valuation Services said that more than 100 new battery electric vehicle models are expected to come to market in the next few years.

“We’re really starting to see that rapid growth in BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles). J.D. Power is expecting BEVs to grow market share by 1 to 2% per year through 2025. It’s going to be a very competitive space,” said Cari Crane, director of industry insights with the ALG division of J.D. Power, in that summary.

As for this year, the second quarter marked the first time that pure EV sales have exceeded 100,000 units in a quarter, according to data from Kelley Blue Book.

KBB, which is part of Cox Automotive, found there were 118,233 new EVs sold in Q2, a 254.9% year-over-year increase.

When you add in sales of HEVs/PHEVs, total new-car sales of electrified vehicles came in at 376,361 units, a 201.1% increase, KBB said.

That widely outpaces the gain in overall new-car sales, which were up 49.5% in the quarter.

Electrified vehicles commanded an 8.53% share of the new-vehicle market in Q2, according to the KBB data, versus a 4.23% share a year ago.

That data indicates that the recently completed third quarter will show pure electric vehicle sales of 99,560 units, which would be a 40.1% hike.

On the used-car side, Manheim processed more than 114,000 electrified vehicles last year, a figure that includes battery electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

That is a small percentage of Manheim's overall sales, but the forecasted boom in new EV launches and sales means that pre-owned population will only rise — and eventually filter back into the wholesale market.

And as more of those electrics find their way into auction channels in coming years, a major priority for auction companies like Manheim in getting them ready for the used-car market will monitoring battery health, as that is a major concern for retail consumers.

In fact, research from Cox Automotive indicates that 83% of consumers in a recent survey said they were anxious about EV batteries.

“Manheim has been setting vehicle values in the wholesale marketplace for decades and is committed to doing the same for used EVs,” Huang, the Manheim president, said in a news release. “Unlike traditional vehicles that are evaluated on miles driven, it’s all about battery health for EVs and grading them so dealers have a reliable valuation.

“Establishing a trusted battery health score will support new and used vehicle adoption, help build the industry standard for battery health, and enable transparency and confidence,” she said.

The Electrify Manheim initiative has taken several steps to help its auction locations gauge EV battery healthy and support service requirements.

For one, Manheim has installed 127 charging stations, which can charge 250 vehicles at a time, throughout 53 of its auctions. That move is designed to help the movement of flow of EVs across the lot run more smoothly.

The company has also developed a battery health diagnostic tool, which utilizes a patented algorithm from Cox Automotive, through a partnership with Spiers New Technologies. Cox Automotive acquired Spiers in September.

Manheim is piloting this tool at six auctions throughout California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Washington that have high volumes of electrics. The auction company plans to expand this to additional locations.

It is conducting tests with six automaker clients to collect battery performance metrics from pre-owned EVs, including state of charge and energy capacity. Through that data, Manheim is building an overall battery health score than runs from 1-5.0, and is including it in condition reports at select auctions.

Manheim is running comparison tests between same make/model vehicles with similar mileages, and early tests indicate, “that vehicles with a battery health score are getting roughly five times more views and bids than those that don’t, are selling for values that are for 1-4.5% higher according to Manheim data,” the company said in a release.

Additionally, Manheim said it has made investments in personal protective and other safety equipment as well as technician training to make sure the servicing and handling of EVs is done safely.

“As an industry leader, Manheim is committed to meeting the evolving EV needs of our clients and marketplace today, while planning for the future,” Huang said in the release.

Beyond the battery health, one of the major considerations for getting EVs ready to be sold in the wholesale channel is the aforementioned charging stations.

That’s been a priority for Manheim’s consignor clients, Huang said.

“When our remarketing partners think about … where to remarket their electric vehicles, they all come and visit the sites,” she said in the interview. “Because one of the first things you have to do is make sure you have the infrastructure to keep these cars charged. 

“Now obviously, they don’t have to get up to 100% but we have to keep the right amount of charge. And obviously for different vehicles, there's different recommendations. So even being able to handle the charging is a different operation, because in the past, we would drive the gas truck. If a car's low on gas, we would drive the gas truck and go up to the car and fill it with gas,” Huang said.

“Well today, with electric vehicles, we can't do that. We actually have to move the vehicle to the charging station. There was a lot of consideration put in (for) just even where do you put these electric charging stations so that it makes sense in the flow of a Manheim location. But when we start talking about remarketing electric vehicles, one of the first things our remarketing partners do is come and look at the charging infrastructure.”

Being environmentally friendly is also of key importance for Manheim, and is often a rallying cry for EV proponents, in general. 

For instance, consider the photo in the above frame, which shows an EV charging station at the solar carport at Manheim San Francisco Bay.

“The battery chargers are sitting on the pillars that hold up all the solar panels,” Huang said. “That's ideally how we'd love to do it. The whole idea of EVs is to make it more green.”