Mark: Hi, it’s Mark from Top Local here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver. Serving Vancouver for over 38 years repairing all makes and models of cars and 18 time winners of Best Auto Repair in Vancouver. How’re you doing Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: So we’re going to talk about a 2012 Ford Transit Connect Electric. I think we’ve talked about this vehicle before. This time there were some charging concerns. What was going on with this electric vehicle?
Bernie: Well, basically it was dead. It wouldn't move because the battery could not be charged, so that was basically what was happening with the vehicle. And simultaneously the charging cord that came with the vehicle that these people used, there’s a locking clip when you put it in the locking clip mechanism had broken. The charging cord, the locking clip between it all that, it basically wouldn't charge the vehicle.
Mark: So how did you fix it?
Bernie: We basically ordered a new charging cord and that basically solved everything. A fairly straight forward repair.
Mark: So, in the details of something like this, I guess this was a vehicle that was electrified by a third party, Azure Dynamics and they've since ceased operating. What does that mean for their future for repairing this vehicle?
Bernie: Well, I think it could be difficult in terms of electric vehicles are fairly new to us. I mean to everyone in the automotive industry there's not a lot of them around. But, there's a lot of information out there. The first thing I did was do some research on why this vehicle wouldn't charge because a clip that's broken and there's really not a lot of repair information on this vehicle. I called Ford and of course they kind of laughed because they've probably sold five of them in Vancouver and I don't know overall. I call the place in the US to order a charging cord and the person joking he said, "Oh, you must have one of the three that have been made." I'm sure there's more than that, but there's not a lot of them around, so I think repairing them going forward could be difficult, but there should be information out there.
Hopefully, they're gonna end up being liable. I mean this vehicle is a 2012, so it's five years old now. It's got very low mileage, so it's only got under 11,000 kilometres on it. It's not used a lot. It's a little city scoot around kind of vehicle for this company. So, hopefully it'll be good because parts could end up being difficult or maybe things will need to be fabricated over time. But, I guess if you get another five years out of it, that would probably be a pretty good amount of time if it's trouble free. So far, the only trouble we've run into with this vehicle is the automotive battery, which is pretty straight forward. It was dead and now a charging cord, which you get is fairly generic. These are good problems to have on a vehicle like this.
Mark: Are you servicing more and more electric vehicles?
Bernie: We are. We don't see a lot of them, but we do, it's the future of the automotive industry. I don't know how long it's going to be, but every day there's more electric cars on the road and more infrastructure being created, so we want to definitely be on the forefront of servicing these vehicles. As I said, there's a lot less moving parts. A lot less things to go wrong and things do last longer, but problems happen. Yes, we do work them and we welcome all of them.
Mark: So, there you go. If you have issues with your electric or hybrid vehicle in Vancouver, the guys to see are Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them at 604-327-7112 to book your appointment. You must book ahead. They're busy or check out their website pawlikautomotive.com. There's five plus years of videos on there or our YouTube channel Pawlik Automotive Repair. Tons of videos on there again. Lots of controversy from the people who have their favourite vehicles who we dare besmirch, but that's okay. We don't take it personal and thanks a lot Bernie.
Bernie: You're welcome Mark.
