Oliver Phillpott is the co-founder of EV battery health testing firm, Generational. Founded in 2023, the firm has already expanded across the UK, offering its battery health certification to dealers and remarketers selling used EVs, helping to inspire consumer confidence and drive growth in the used EV market.
We spoke to Oliver to find out how Generational was founded, learn more about the state of the used electric car market, and more.
How did your previous experience lead to you co-founding Generational?
I started out as a software engineer in the world of automotive financial software, the firm I worked for built software for firms such as Mercedes-Benz Financial Services and Toyota Financial Services. With this, I understood the importance of finance and was quite switched on to how EV residual values were being affected.
When the company became big and eventually IPO’d, I realised I wanted to roll my sleeves up and began at another startup where I found myself managing an electric fleet in a much more operational role.
We were working with early generation EVs and bikes, and battery issues were something we really had to contend with. That’s when I realised that knowing the condition of batteries was super important, and I was thinking a lot about how this would impact residual values given how important and valuable the battery is.
Then, I met my co-founder who brought amazing experience both from his PhD and time at the Red Bull Racing F1 team. We looked at each other and said look, there’s got to be a simple way to make battery health much more transparent, let anyone diagnose a battery, and bring that data out into the wild so it can be used to facilitate decisions across the lifecycle of a vehicle – and that was the beginning of Generational.
From Generational’s ongoing assessment of used EV batteries, what insights can you give us into battery longevity? Are there any models that perform particularly strong or weak?
I’d say, generally speaking, battery degradation on EVs is a lot better than consumers expect. People are typically comparing them to their smartphones, but on EVs, we’re seeing an average of about 2% a year degradation.
But, it really does vary depending on how the vehicle’s been used. Are you regularly storing it at 100% charge? Have you been rapid charging all the time? High depths of discharge, which means charging all the way up to 100% then right down to zero, is another factor that can cause slightly faster degradation.
Some models perform better than others. It’s no secret that some of the early generation Nissan Leafs, for example, have slightly faster degradation because they don’t have some of the more recent technologies around battery cooling.
A lot of degradation is based on usage, but one thing to note is that age tends to have a higher impact than mileage. For example, young vehicles that are quite high mileage still tend to have very good batteries, but once vehicles become slightly older, that changes, and having an assessment of battery condition is even more important.
Do you see any new challenges for the used EV market in the wake of the Electric Car Grant?
I think we will probably benefit as a business. People who might have previously considered a used EV might now be more likely to consider a new one with the great deals out there. This means that sales of used electric vehicles will become more competitive, with prices coming down and retailers needing to find any edge they can get to try and differentiate their used EVs.
One lever they have, and we’re finding people increasingly going to, is a solution like ours. I don’t feel great about the fact we’ll probably benefit at the expense of the used EV sector, so we have been doing everything we can to support independent retailers who have so far been very cautious in stocking EVs.
Leading on from that, is there any supporting policy that you’d like to see implemented for the used market? Standardised battery testing was outlined in the Labour manifesto but we’ve yet to see it materialise.
We’ve been pushing for standardised battery health checks, presenting it to bodies such as OZEV, and I think they are pretty slow to move. I think a change there would be great, but I don’t think it’s particularly slowing down our growth.
It’s not necessarily just for the used market, but I think VAT on public charging is a big one. I personally don’t have a driveway, and paying 10 times the price to charge an EV compared to the price someone with a driveway and overnight tariff is paying doesn’t really make sense. I realise it’s hard for the government to make big cuts like that in the current financial situation but it’s still a big disparity at the moment.
Do you have any plans to offer Generational as a solution for private buyers? For example, if I went to purchase a used EV from a private seller, is there a tool I can plug into their car to get insights on battery health?
We may do that in the future. At the moment, we have a free product that is already released that allows drivers to connect to their car and receive monthly tips and advice on how to maintain the health of their battery.
But right now, we are only working with retailers and automotive businesses. That’s not to say it won’t change in the future, but one thing I would say is that particularly in the last few months the footprint of businesses we’re working with is national. So, if you’re a buyer who’s interested in purchasing a used EV, you shouldn’t have to travel far to find a local retailer that sells EVs with a transparent indicator of the battery condition.
In your conversations with dealers, have you found battery wear to be one of the biggest fears around used EV purchases?
Just a week ago, one of our customers told me a story that someone drove down from Cumbria to Suffolk in order to buy a car with a transparent assessment of the battery condition. Typically, dealers see their sales radius as around 50 miles, but these further distances travelled show that people find battery health really important in their used EV purchase.
When you look at the stuff people want to know about used EVs, the number one question is the condition of the battery. I think that makes sense, because when an EV is new, the battery can account for up to 40% of the value of the car. Then, when it’s used, it doesn’t make financial sense to put a completely new £20,000 battery in a car that’s otherwise worth £10,000. It can mean a write-off of the whole car. So, the destiny of that vehicle becomes all about the battery, and battery health is rapidly becoming a must-have piece of information for selling used EVs.
Some of the value of a used ICE car is based on the level of service history provided, usually an indicator of engine health. Could pricing on used EVs be differentiated in a similar manner?
We’re in a funny place in the market right now where the valuation companies haven’t yet incorporated the condition of the battery into their valuation models. Right now, that means there are some real bargains to be had by consumers, such as finding good quality high mileage EVs that have a battery in very good condition.
Currently, all the pricing models work on age and mileage, but for an EV mileage can be less important – so valuation companies are very much looking at implementing battery state of health into their valuation models in the future.
Thanks to Oliver for taking part in our interview series. You can find out more about Generational here.
