Protecting the most valuable part of every leased car

Leasing companies buy vehicles, rent them out on contracts of three to five years and resell them at the end. When they sign, they estimate the residual value, and with EVs the battery has become the biggest unknown in that number.

The job is to sell every returned car above its book value and to set the residual value right at signing. It also means lowering the monthly depreciation, the biggest cost line in the lease price.

Why the most valuable part of the car leaves the building ungraded

At hand back, most leasing companies rely on a one off battery test. It is a snapshot of the battery on the day it comes back, when the damage is already done. The residual value was set four years earlier, from a price guide with almost no EV history. Whether it was right only shows up at the auction. Among the UK’s 50 largest leasing companies, one in five has already sold EVs below the assumed residual value, and taken the loss.

Two identical cars, same age, same mileage, can come back six percentage points of battery capacity apart purely on how the driver charged them. The lease company cannot see it during the contract, cannot charge for it at the end and cannot stop it in between.

BMB reads the battery of every car independently, at hand back and during the contract, and forecasts where it is heading. Residual values are then set on what the pack is actually doing. That is where the gap between an 85% assumption and a 70% outcome is closed. Instead of a single snapshot, BMB follows the battery through the whole contract. It flags the charging behaviour that wears the battery down while there is still time to act.

The driver app gives each driver a charging score and tips. Better charging then lowers the monthly depreciation, instead of only measuring it afterwards.