Owners of older EVs don’t have many options if something breaks after the original warranty expires. A Bay Area startup called Amber thinks it can help them navigate that minefield, starting with Tesla owners.
The company, founded in early 2023, announced on Wednesday that it launched a new aftermarket warranty product called AmberCare for Model Y, 3, S and X owners. There will be different plans, ranging from $40 per month to around from $120 per month, covering power units, battery and more. When owners file a claim, Amber works with qualified repair shops to find the right parts and fix what’s wrong, and will transport the vehicle.
The launch of AmberCare is a reminder that we’re still in uncharted territory when it comes to electric vehicles and what happens to them over years (and tens of thousands of miles) of use.
It is a tense market. While electric vehicles tend to require less regular service than internal combustion vehicles, things still break, and sometimes what breaks are parts that are beyond what an auto shop is used to dealing with. . Some stores charge dazzling prices for repairs or saying that damaged electric vehicles should be scrapped altogether. Existing extended warranty products sometimes do not cover specific EV parts. And if people own more limited production EVs (fulfillment cars or luxury vehicles from relatively new startups, for example), the problem may be even more difficult to solve.
Amber CEO Joe Pak tells TechCrunch that AmberCare is an attempt to address all of this. “Our vision is to build the first vertically integrated aftermarket warranty platform,” he says, because right now “the ability to truly service [EVs]and the parts to replace what might be broken, that’s not mature yet.”
Image credits: Amber
To achieve this, Amber has been working with repair shops across the country and identifying and helping source high-demand parts. To achieve its lofty goals, Amber will commit $3.18 million in recently announced seed funding, from a round co-led by Era and Prime Sazze, and joined by Alcove Fund, Virta Ventures, Global Millennial Capital and Root & Shoot Ventures . The company is launching AmberCare in 10 states: Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island and Tennessee.
AmberCare is the latest addition to a growing economy based on used electric vehicles. A new generation of companies has emerged dedicated to efforts such as recycling the batteries that power cars, including redwood materialsfounded by former Tesla CTO, JB Straubel, or addressing the “digital maintenance” of electric and autonomous vehicles, such as Kinetic backed by Lux Capital.
Pak says he sees two groups of customers for AmberCare, at least initially. One group is anyone who is looking to buy a used electric vehicle but is scared by the idea of expensive and time-consuming repairs. For them, “we give them the idea that they can limit their repair costs” with AmberCare, he says. The second is the set of owners who keep their electric vehicles after the Tesla warranty.
Amber only has a team of five people right now, but they already have a small group of customers using an early access version of AmberCare. With the product launch, he says he believes the best way to acquire new customers will be by interacting with the EV community, especially in online forums, where hardcore fans tend to spend a lot of time discussing the ins and outs of EV ownership. including complaining about occasional problems with major repairs.
There are other unexpected things to consider in the electric vehicle repair process that Pak believes AmberCare can help with, such as transportation. “Not every tow truck can tow an electric vehicle, it has to be a flatbed,” he says.
Pak also says he’s aware of the challenge of building a business around extended warranties at a time when people are quite allergic to that phrase, thanks to years of phone scams. So far, however, “customers really get it.”
“You can even say the words ‘extended warranty’ and they’ll get it. And in fact, it’s better for us to just say it that way,” she says.
Additionally, “there are people who ship their cars from Ohio to San Diego to get them.” [their EVs] fixed,” says Pak. “There is already a gap in the market for this solution.”