New energy cars. Who's gonna fix them
China news weekly reporter: chen ziu
Published in china newsweek magazine, 2025. 10. 6 issues
Recently, roon, the owner of red car maintenance, turned the theme of the live broadcast into “rong lost the case”. In september, he had the outcome of a lawsuit with a car company, to which he had to pay $100,000。
He was often asked whether a brand of new energy cars could be repaired. Long's answer is constantly changing between “can be fixed” and “can't be fixed”, and whenever he is impatient to say “can't be fixed”, his subtext is considered “can't be fixed”。
As a webmaster, lung regularly shares his views on different brands of new energy vehicles on various platforms, revealing that he was sued by three car companies for a total of $7 million and claiming to be “the most tragic car mechanic in 2025”。
The result of such a judgement was quickly and simply understood by the outside world to mean that “a car mechanic was prosecuted for repairing a new energy vehicle and lost”. Although that was not the case, the question of who would maintain the new energy vehicles was indeed new。
New energy car maintenance, high-risk occupations
Looking at the case against lung and the car company, the core is not “maintenance of the new energy car”。
On 12 september, the ministry of law of peng motors disclosed the judgement stating that mangil had repeatedly published false statements and maliciously denigrated material about peng automobile products on web platforms using various accounts such as the “travel of dragon teacher” (formerly known as the “travel of lung”) and “travel of dragon teacher manggle new energy maintenance training”。
On 30 october last, biadi's news agency's official webbo wrote that, for a long time, biadi's brand name had been seriously damaged by false statements made on platforms such as tremors, video numbers and slandering the biadi's brand and series of products from the media “traco” and its associated matrix accounts (including “full-at-a-turk power” etc.)。
Although lung has been prosecuted for his statements rather than for repairing the new energy vehicle, this has hit the current mood in the car repair industry, which was classified as a “high-risk occupation” in 2025. The real cause for concern in the maintenance sector was a ruling of the people's court of the kading district of shanghai early this year。
The two brothers, dai liu and xiao liu, were involved in the repair of the vehicle circuits and learned that the battery management system “locks” after the identification of the collision signal, which prohibits the power of the power cell to export externally, in order to avoid short-circuit fires caused by the continued use of power cells in new energy vehicles produced by a company to avoid damage. In accordance with the normal process, power cells should be “locked” only after completion of appropriate maintenance inspections and ensuring normal and safe use. However, following the normal process of “locking”, which is costly and time-consuming, some of the owners asked the two of them whether there were other “cuts”。
Dao liu and liu si have studied the modification of battery management system data using tools such as chip readers and computers for the purpose of “locking” batteries, which ultimately led to a distortion in the collection of data on the operation of new energy car batteries sold by the company. This company reported the above-mentioned cases to the public security authorities. It was established that the two individuals had modified the data of the two new energy vehicle battery management systems in the above-mentioned manner, obtaining a total of $5,000 in illicit proceeds. In the end, the court sentenced liu to six months ' imprisonment and a one-year suspended sentence, and liu to six months ' imprisonment and a six-month suspended sentence。
“the maintenance industry reacted more strongly to this decision.” the vice-president and chief engineer of science and technology of the platform service told china newsweek that the case was representative and that the need to protect vehicle data was a requirement of the current regulatory system, but that it conflicted with the interests of users。
Ensuring the authenticity of data collection is a regulatory requirement. In march 2022, the ministries of industry and information technology, public security and transport jointly issued guidance on further strengthening the construction of a safety system for new energy motors enterprises, which requires monitoring of the operational safety of new energy automobile products sold and uploading and monitoring data in accordance with relevant standards to ensure the timeliness, authenticity and validity of upload data。
However, this has also given rise to controversy over the “maintenance rights”: if the collision of a new energy vehicle results in a “lock” of the battery, can the “lock” only be “opened” after inspection of the vehicle's authorized channels and no third-party channels have the corresponding qualifications
According to cao's army, fuel trucks are dominated by mechanical structures, making it difficult for the mainframe to impose restrictions on maintenance, but new energy vehicles need to be connected to the host plant's system, which can be “locked” remotely, which limits vehicle maintenance and reduces consumers' options for new energy vehicle maintenance。
"we have a lot of new energy cars that we can't fix." li myung (alias), head of a third-party maintenance company in beijing, told china news weekly that after learning of shanghai ka-min's jurisprudence, he had deliberately searched for “crimes against computer information systems”, which was the first time he realized the consequences of “unauthorized unlocking” and was, indeed, afraid。
New energy vehicle maintenance may be a “high-risk career”, but it is true that the high-controlled maintenance chain of the new energy car is one of the contradictions between the car company and third-party maintenance channels。
It's not "never fix it," it's "no fix it."
In comparison to “none to fix”, song's senior after-sale sales student told china newsweek that the more important issue at the moment might be “no repair”。
New energy vehicle penetration has increased rapidly in recent years, with a very small proportion of vehicles requiring maintenance. Businesses generally agree with the purchaser that quality assurance services will be cancelled if maintenance is performed in an unauthorized third party. As a result, the company took the initiative and left the new energy vehicle in the facility's maintenance system, which is still in the quality guarantee period。
Many companies require users to repair and maintain in their designated channels. For example, the question body has requested that maintenance of the driveone electric system involving china and the vehicle-mounted system must be performed by china as certified engineer, without providing quality assurance. Biadi's “three power systems lifelong quality assurance clause” specifically states that maintenance of “unused plant pure spare parts” “accidental repairs are not performed at biadi's authorized service point” if the owner “does not perform maintenance at the authorized service shop in biadi during the maintenance period as specified in the user manual”。
Motor companies generally provide quality assurance for “triple power”, although the cao cai army has experienced some extremes, such as the fact that the owner had simply replaced a non-original plant’s rain scraper and had been warned about it。
“it is very difficult to see third-party repairers on the market for new energy vehicles, only tesla can do business.” the song industry has told journalists that this year the market has seen the emergence of so-called third-party new energy car repairers, mainly for tesla, because the first national productions of model 3, model y have just passed a four-year or 80,000-km mass guarantee period, together with a large stock of tesla, are sufficient to support the repairer’s business. Most of the vehicles in the country are still under quality assurance, even in the case of biadi。
According to song, the positive cycle of third-party new energy vehicle maintenance markets was not established with provisions such as “unauthorized maintenance affecting quality assurance”. “vehicle maintenance requires widespread training and extensive hands-on experience, but the current market does not have as many new energy vehicles to repair. There are not enough cars `trainers', and the technology learned will be eliminated in a year or two, as is the case for early training in new energy vehicle maintenance.”
In addition, the frequency and cost of maintaining new energy vehicles are lower than that of fuel vehicles. In the case of fuel trucks, which need to be replaced with oil for every 5,000 to 10,000 kilometres, and in the case of 20,000 kilometres with brake oil, antifreeze, spark plugs, etc., the average annual maintenance cost is approximately $2,000. The absence of new energy vehicles, with the exception of charging them, makes it more difficult for third-party new energy vehicle maintenance markets to survive。
The market for the maintenance of new energy vehicles is dominated by automobiles, which raises the question of the fact that some of the new power companies are initially facing even inadequate maintenance capacity, such as the shanghai miller who had indicated that maintenance required a six-month queue and that it was “more difficult to stay up late than a medical name”。
However, some companies may delegate some maintenance services to third-party repairers. However, it is not easy to join the maintenance system of a car company. Lee ming followed the changes in the market two or three years ago and issued a request for authorization to several new energy hosts, but even though the brand of a new energy car for a blow-out operation is authorized, the applicant is required to hold more than one existing 4s store, preferably a luxury 4s shop。
The song industries told reporters that the car companies might authorize foreign repairs of gold and paint, but that core systems such as “triple power” would not allow outsiders to “touch”。
The “triple power” covers at least half of the cost of a new energy vehicle and is the most profitable part of maintenance. Lee ming had received an internet-based car owner, and the 400-km vehicle could only travel 70-80 km, as it had travelled more than 300,000 kilometres over the four-year period, which did not meet the requirements for safeguarding vehicles. Eventually, the owner of the li ming gang replaced the damaged core at a cost of about $2,000。
From a business perspective, “security” is an important consideration. Tsao indicated that, while more and more new energy vehicles were being repaired through third-party channels, such as internet-based vehicles, de-privileged vehicles and vehicles whose mainframe plants had collapsed, little had been heard of the quality problems caused by third-party maintenance, suggesting that third-party vehicles were well equipped to carry out new energy vehicle repairs。
“employers are trying to keep the money in their pockets, which may initially have been maintained at 4s, but the third-party chambers of commerce have gradually encroached on the 4s business with cost advantages, and fuel trucks have gone through the same process.” song quan says。
As more new energy vehicles are released, more and more new energy vehicles will be flowing to the third-party servicing market, which is clearly not ready。
Third-party market maintenance pending
The data indicate that more than 3 million new energy vehicles will be removed from the plant by 2025 and that the value of new energy vehicles' preservation is expected to exceed $80 billion this year, although third-party maintenance market development remains slow。
According to the chinese association of automobile repairs, there are about 400,000 enterprises in the country that are involved in fuel car repair and maintenance, but only 20,000 to 30,000 new energy vehicle repair businesses。
The chief executive officer, wang ho, founder of the bora automobile advisory services (qingdao) ltd., has stated that the current market demand and supply for new energy vehicles after their sale is not matched, with a focus on new energy companies and “triple power” suppliers still lagging behind in advancing technology openness and the social circulation of spare parts. The strong control of technology, spare parts and service channels by some producers creates de facto monopolistic and equitable service barriers that prevent the socialization of services after the sale of new energy。
This “barrier” is first reflected in the technical chain. “even with a new engine, the repairer can remove it and reload it, 100 per cent being restored, and there are virtually no technical barriers to fuel vehicle maintenance.” the song industry told the press, but many repair workers were afraid to tear down new energy vehicles, particularly the “triple power system”。
Behind this is the lack of relevant training, and the data show that there is a shortfall of 824,000 new energy vehicles for services. On the other hand, progress in the public maintenance of technological information by new energy companies has been slow。
As early as 2005, eight ministries, including the ministry of transport and communications, jointly published the public administration of automobile maintenance information, which requires automobile producers to make available to all repair operators and consumers, without discrimination and without delay, technical information on the maintenance of car-types sold, in the form of available information, easy access to information and reasonable information prices. A similar formulation is found in the motor vehicle maintenance management regulations, which were revised fifth time in 2023。
However, the performance of motor vehicles in reality is not encouraging. The tsao army stated that, despite the relevant requirements, the slow pace of updating maintenance technology information, as well as the cumbersome and expensive procedures for third-party maintenance manufacturers to request information from host plants, were limiting the development of third-party maintenance markets。
In australia, in mid-year, five new energy brands, such as biadi, polar krypton, platinum, smart and zero, may face fines of up to $10 million, or approximately rmb 47 million, on suspicion of monopolizing post-sale maintenance. Under the country's motor vehicle services and maintenance information system (mvis), auto manufacturers are required to disclose core maintenance data, such as diagnostic software, technical parameters, to independent repair plants, and closed maintenance systems may lead to a 30 per cent increase in post-sale costs。
“australia's penalties for motor vehicles are warning, and the eu is demanding accordingly.” according to tsao, there is no domestic inspection of the implementation of publicly available technical information on the maintenance of cars, nor is any such company penalized. “there is virtually no dedicated department within the company to push the matter forward, and there is a desire to ensure that its own maintenance channels are continuously profitable.”
Another issue facing the third-party servicing market is where to obtain spare parts, particularly “trielectric” parts. There are also insufficient spare parts in the market for free circulation。
“if the market for a car is small, third-party spare parts manufacturers are also reluctant to produce accessories for it. The fuel car age tends to have original plant parts and spare parts, which reduces maintenance costs to some extent. But if there are only tens of thousands of new energy vehicles sold, the secondary plant naturally has no incentive to produce spare parts for it.” a car spare parts manufacturer told a journalist。
The co-founder of the new energy component of cha foning mentioned that the new vehicle company was very strict in controlling the component. Tesla, for example, banned the opening of the original plant to the social market, while ordering suppliers not to allow the sale of accessories to the social market。
In january this year, the general financial supervisory authority, the ministries of industry and information technology, transport and commerce issued guidance on deepening reforms and strengthening regulation for the promotion of high-quality developments in new energy vehicle risks, highlighting the need to reduce the cost of new energy vehicle maintenance. The paper noted the channels and types of supply of spare parts for the maintenance of new energy vehicles and encouraged the promotion of new energy automobiles and power battery enterprises to open up through technology to support their own or authorized networks to sell “triple power systems” parts to society。
“in the absence of a sound market for third-party maintenance, it is really difficult to reduce the cost of repairing new energy vehicles.” lee ming indicated。
China news weekly, no. 37 of 2025
Statement: written authorization to publish chinese news weekly
