300 Milliarden Yuan an Nachmarktmöglichkeiten warten auf Lösung: Wer kann die Zwickmühle der Reparaturen von Elektromobilen durchbrechen?

New energy vehicles have become a common means of transportation on the streets, but the pain point of "sky-high" after-sales maintenance has always lingered.

In 2022, after an accident involving the owner of a Polestar 2 dual-motor long-range version, the vehicle's battery pack and external components were damaged. When sent for repair, the 4S store indicated that the headlights and chassis parts were damaged, and the battery panel was dented inward.

To the owner's surprise, the solution proposed by the 4S store was to replace the entire battery pack, with a quoted price as high as 540,000 yuan. This cost not only far exceeded the vehicle's official guide price of 338,000 yuan but was also more than twice the owner's actual invoice amount of 249,000 yuan. The absurd reality of "repairing being more expensive than buying" left the owner in a dilemma.

Three years have passed, but the chronic problem of high repair costs for new energy vehicles has not been fundamentally solved. Instead, it has become more prominent in the daily use of vehicle owners.

The experience of a Tesla Model Y owner is quite representative: In a rear - end collision, only the trunk door had a dent about the length of an index finger. The after - sales service informed that the entire door needed to be replaced, and the final repair cost was nearly 20,000 yuan. Another XPeng owner who had a scratch just four days after picking up the car spent more than 4,000 yuan just on painting.

Now, the hidden worry of "sky - high repair costs" is quietly eroding the travel experience of new energy vehicle owners. What should have been a convenient and worry - free choice has, due to the model of "over - repairing minor damages and preferring replacement to repair", left many owners in the dilemma of "being able to afford the car but not the repair".

The seemingly cost - effective car - buying choice hides a hidden pitfall of "unaffordable repairs"

The continuous price cuts of new energy vehicles have enabled more and more people to easily become "car owners".

According to the latest data released by Cui Dongshu, the secretary - general of the Passenger Car Association, in September 2025, the average price of new energy vehicles in China fell below the 160,000 - yuan mark for the first time, dropping to 158,000 yuan, a decrease of more than 8% compared with 172,000 yuan in the same period last year. The starting prices of some entry - level pure - electric models are even less than 100,000 yuan.

The continuously falling prices have made new energy vehicles the first choice for many families as a means of transportation, and the market penetration rate has been continuously rising. On October 13th, the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference of the China Automobile Dealers Association released data showing that the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the domestic overall passenger car market in September had reached 57.8%.

Many people initially chose to buy new energy vehicles precisely because they valued the label of "saving money".

A new energy vehicle owner said that before buying the car, he learned that compared with fuel - powered vehicles, the regular maintenance of new energy vehicles only requires checking the status of the battery and motor and replacing the air - conditioning filter, etc., and the cost is significantly reduced. Moreover, the daily charging cost is much lower than the fuel cost, and a lot of money can be saved in the long - term use.

However, this "money - saving" experience is easily shattered when the vehicle breaks down or is involved in an accident. The money saved on maintenance and charging is often a drop in the bucket compared to a single repair expense. Many owners bluntly say that they "can afford the car but not the repair", and the money saved on maintenance initially is simply not enough to cover a single repair cost.

On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, a large number of vehicle owners have shared their experiences of "sky - high repair costs".

A Jihu owner shared that when the vehicle only had a slight dent in the chassis due to a scratch, the 4S store was unable to replace the bottom plate separately and directly quoted 18,500 yuan to replace the entire battery assembly. A new energy vehicle repair after - sales practitioner explained that the repair judgment of core components is relatively strict. Even if the surface damage is not serious, the entire component may be required to be replaced due to potential risks.

The research results released by the China Insurance Automotive Technology Research Institute in 2024 show that among the 59 pure - electric new energy sample models, the average single - part zero - to - whole ratio of the power battery pack is as high as 50.96%. This means that if consumers need to replace the vehicle's battery pack, this single expense alone is close to half of the vehicle's market price. The saying that "replacing the battery is like buying a new car" is not an exaggeration.

However, even if core components such as the battery are not involved, the repair cost of minor faults far exceeds the owners' expectations and leaves them in a dilemma.

A Tesla owner told Tech Planet that when only a small part of the car door was scratched, the 4S store, citing the reason that "the door material cannot be directly repaired", required the entire door to be replaced. The total cost, including labor fees, was nearly 10,000 yuan. Although a third - party repair shop said it could repair it, he was worried about problems such as paint color difference and irregular appearance. In a state of indecision, he could only bear the high cost.

The seemingly money - saving new energy travel experience has ultimately given vehicle owners an "expensive lesson" in after - sales maintenance.

The siege of new energy vehicle repairs: Third - party repair shops dare not repair, and owners dare not choose

"The core reason for the high repair cost is that most 4S stores prefer replacement to repair," said a new energy vehicle repair practitioner.

However, the reason why "preferring replacement to repair" has become an unspoken rule in the new energy vehicle repair industry lies in the absolute authority monopoly of the vehicle manufacturers and the multiple difficulties faced by third - party repair shops. The interaction between the two ultimately transfers the repair cost pressure to the vehicle owners.

The above - mentioned practitioner told Tech Planet that the reason why direct - sales/4S stores are obsessed with "prioritizing part replacement" is essentially due to considerations of efficiency and responsibility.

For the official after - sales service that undertakes a large number of orders, replacing original - factory parts does not require complex diagnosis and repair techniques and can maximize the turnover. More importantly, using original - factory parts can transfer the safety responsibility after repair to the vehicle manufacturer or parts supplier, without having to bear subsequent risks themselves. This has become the "safe choice" for the official after - sales service.

The "Inspection Regulations for the Operational Safety Performance of New Energy Vehicles" implemented on March 1st this year have established strict national standards for the safety inspection of core components such as power batteries, drive motors, and electronic control systems. In particular, power batteries and electrical safety are listed as mandatory inspection items. The high - standard safety requirements make the official after - sales service more inclined to avoid compliance risks after repair through "overall replacement". After all, even a slight damage to core components may trigger potential safety hazards, and part replacement is the most direct way to be exempt from liability.

On the other hand, the technological changes in new energy vehicles have further amplified the authority advantages of vehicle manufacturers and set insurmountable barriers for third - party repair shops.

Different from fuel - powered vehicles, the core of new energy vehicles lies in the "three - electric system" (battery, motor, and electronic control), and the complexity of its software level far exceeds that of traditional mechanical structures.

A vehicle repair practitioner in the Beijing area told Tech Planet that the fault diagnosis, component matching, system activation, etc. of new energy vehicles all rely on the exclusive diagnostic system and software authority of the vehicle manufacturer. Ordinary repair shops simply cannot obtain these core technical resources. Even if they can find hardware faults, they cannot complete the repair and adaptation at the software level.

What's even more fatal is the legal risk. In March this year, a car blogger was sued by three car companies, XPeng, BYD, and SERES, for repairing a new energy vehicle and posting a video. Previously, two car repairmen in Shanghai were sentenced to the crime of destroying computer information systems for "unlocking" a locked battery pack.

This dilemma of "unable to repair, afraid to repair, and possibly breaking the law if repaired" has made a large number of third - party repair shops shy away from new energy vehicle repairs and can only choose their business carefully. "Even for a simple scratch, we will make an assessment before taking the order," said the above - mentioned repairman.

On one hand, vehicle manufacturers control the technology and authority and tend to "prefer replacement to repair". On the other hand, third - party repair shops are limited by technical barriers, lack of authority, and legal risks and have difficulty carrying out substantial repairs.

Ultimately, the new energy vehicle repair market has formed a pattern where vehicle manufacturers have a monopoly and vehicle owners have to pay passively, and the pain point of "sky - high repair costs" is difficult to solve.

A 300 - billion - yuan blue ocean: The dilemma of new energy vehicle after - sales maintenance needs to be solved

"It costs money just to do a detection after the warranty expires, and the repair cost is often tens of thousands of yuan. I feel heart - ache when choosing the official after - sales service, and I'm afraid of risks when looking for a third - party repair shop," a Tesla owner told Tech Planet, expressing the dilemma after the new energy vehicle's warranty expires.

In fact, this kind of dilemma is not an isolated case. As the first batch of new energy vehicles that have enjoyed policy dividends gradually enter the "post - warranty period", more and more vehicle owners are facing the difficult choice of vehicle repair.

From the perspective of market potential, the new energy after - sales market should be a blue ocean.

According to insurance registration data, currently, there are more than 19.5 million new energy vehicles with an 8 - year battery warranty, and as time goes by, the number of "out - of - warranty" vehicles will continue to soar: it is expected to reach 320,000 in 2025, increase to 980,000 in 2028, and exceed 7.2 million in 2032.

According to the prediction of Cinda Securities, the market scale of new energy vehicle after - sales maintenance will reach 300 billion yuan in 2025, of which the proportion of "three - electric" maintenance exceeds 15%, corresponding to a market scale of about 45 billion yuan.

With such a large market scale, third - party repair shops should have a good development opportunity, but the reality is not so. Problems such as technical barriers and legal risks in the industry still make many vehicle owners and repair shops hesitate.

The key to dispelling this concern lies in breaking the long - standing "after - sales monopoly" of car companies. In response, industry players have begun to take the initiative to break the situation. Among them, battery manufacturers have taken the lead in entering the new energy vehicle after - sales maintenance track, becoming an important breakthrough point.

Not long ago, "Ningjia Service", an independent after - sales market brand under CATL, launched a CTP repair service. The price of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan is far lower than the cost of traditional battery replacement, significantly reducing the repair cost for vehicle owners. However, it should be noted that this service is currently only applicable to models equipped with CATL batteries, and the coverage needs to be expanded.

At the same time, third - party repair platforms are also solving the problems of technology and spare parts through the "authorized cooperation" model and actively linking up car companies and battery enterprises to build a compliant repair system.

Tuhu Car Care has reached strategic cooperation with many car companies, battery enterprises, and charging pile enterprises, obtaining professional repair technical support and original - factory after - sales spare parts supply through official authorization; JD Car Care is also promoting cooperation with mainstream new energy car companies such as BYD, FAW - Volkswagen, and SAIC - Volkswagen.

However, these efforts have not completely changed the industry situation. According to the statistics of the China Automobile Maintenance Industry Association, there are about 400,000 enterprises related to the maintenance of fuel - powered vehicles in China, while there are only 20,000 to 30,000 new energy vehicle repair enterprises, a difference of more than ten times in quantity. At present, the openness and repair capacity of the industry are far from meeting the demands of all vehicle owners.

A staff member of a new energy vehicle repair institution told Tech Planet that to change the current situation and enable vehicle owners to truly get out of the choice dilemma, the key lies in the cooperation of vehicle manufacturers. "Only when vehicle manufacturers actively open up their authority and break the monopoly barriers in terms of technology and spare parts can the third - party repair market truly mature and improve, and then consumers can truly have the right to choose the repair channel."

This article is from the WeChat official account "Tech Planet" (ID: tech618), author: Ren Xueyun, published by 36Kr with authorization.