Every dealership with used EVs has the same quiet problem: cars sit, packs drain, and a customer arrives for a test drive in a car that will not move.
Why lot cars lose charge
- Vampire drain. Sentry modes, app polling and software updates all draw while parked.
- Short moves. A car shuffled between spaces never gets a proper charging cycle.
- Weather. Heat and cold both cost range in a car nobody is driving.
- Dead 12-volt batteries. The most common reason a lot car will not start at all.
What a scheduled visit looks like
A unit arrives on a fixed day, works the row, and leaves a log: which vehicle, what was added, what the auxiliary battery tested at. Cars that need a battery exchange are flagged before a customer finds them.
The economics
| Cost | What it protects |
|---|---|
| One scheduled visit | Several test drives that would otherwise be cancelled |
| One battery exchange | A delivery that does not slip a day |
| One locked-out customer | A review you do not have to answer |
What to ask a provider
- Can you work from a vehicle list rather than one call per car?
- Do you log state of charge before and after per VIN?
- Can you flag auxiliary batteries that are failing?
- What is the notice period for adding cars to a route?
The alternative
Install L2 chargers across the lot, which is the right long-term answer and a six-figure, multi-month one. Until that exists, a route is the pragmatic fix.