Solving the Most Pressing EV Challenges Today

It’s no secret that the automotive industry is rapidly changing — especially when it comes to EVs. With that change comes a host of new challenges for dealers and OEMs, from how these vehicles are distributed when new to how they are assessed, serviced and remarketed when used.

Solving those challenges is exactly what we’re focused on at Cox Automotive.

On the Q3 Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index call earlier this month, I laid out our vision for how we are stretching beyond the traditional auction buy/sell activity and leveraging Manheim’s vast physical network and deep expertise to deliver scalable solutions that address new client demands with both new and used EVs — and more.

But First, a Little Background

To help you understand how what we’re doing is different, let me put Manheim’s scope and scale into perspective — because it truly is unmatched in the industry.

With nearly 80 years in the industry, Manheim’s footprint now includes 6,500 acres of secure real estate across 75 locations, which we can use to sequence and store vehicles, as well as optimize logistics. In fact, 94% of the U.S. population lives within 150 miles of a Manheim location.

Over the past decade, we have invested over $500 million in our infrastructure, expertise and capabilities to unlock new opportunities and meet clients’ evolving needs with new and used EVs.

Most Pressing EV Challenges

There’s no doubt that Manheim is uniquely positioned to be the ultimate source for clients’ new and used EV solutions, as we’ve been preparing for the influx of more EVs coming into the wholesale space for years. Here are a couple of the biggest opportunities I see:

• EV Storage and Distribution Networks: The infrastructure needed to support numerous EVs on a dealer’s lot can be daunting for some, which is why it’s understandably hard for them to take on big shipments of new or used EVs at any given time. The chargers alone, not to mention the safety and maintenance considerations for used EVs, require a big investment. But that’s one we’ve already made.
  
  Manheim’s 6,500 acres of secure space across the U.S. have extended capabilities for the specialized storage, care and maintenance of new and used EVs, including 900+ chargers. Add in our 900+ trained EV technicians who can safely work on these vehicles, as well as Cox Automotive’s leading logistics businesses that can efficiently get EVs to their destinations, and it’s easy to see why Manheim is perfectly suited to be a retail storage and distribution partner.

• Battery Transportation Optimization: Another big opportunity is battery transportation optimization. Put simply, EV batteries are heavy and require numerous specialized transport considerations, making it inefficient and difficult to ship a single battery if it needs repair.
  
  We’re solving that with an innovative transportation optimization solution for battery recalls and swaps. This solution aggregates batteries for transport, minimizing packaging and maximizing density through the Manheim and Cox Automotive EV Battery Solutions network. For clients, this can result in lower storage and handling costs compared to shipping individual batteries, while providing flexible capacity, expert diagnostics and comprehensive lifecycle management support.

And that’s just the beginning.

Cox Automotive has long been the world’s largest automotive services and technology provider—and we know that the possibilities are endless when we leverage the depth and breadth of our network and expertise to solve clients’ evolving challenges.

Looking to the future, no company is better positioned to develop and provide the solutions and technology needed to help the industry transition to a more electrified future and deliver unrivaled, scalable solutions for EVs.

Alan Lang is Senior Vice President, Physical Services and Auctions at Cox Automotive