Curry’s Auto Service based in Gainesville, Va., is now offering high-voltage battery pack charging and conditioning for hybrid vehicles in and out of warranty.
The company, which serves the greater Washington, D.C., area, has partnered with Automotive Research and Design (AR&D) to provide service to hybrid owners.
"We are investing about $25,000 worth of equipment and another $25,000 worth of advanced hybrid training," says Matt Curry, president and CEO of Curry's Auto Service. "This is important because we will be better trained than the dealers. Dr. Mark Quarto, chief technology officer of AR&D, worked for GM for 28 years as one the lead alternative fuel program engineers, Mark is one of the foremost experts in the country on the technology of hybrid and electric cars."
Curry was on board with the cutting-edge service technology from the start. “These systems need service to perform optimally,” says Curry, who has already performed battery conditioning on his own hybrid fleet. “We are seeing an incredible 11 to 14 mile-per-gallon increase in fuel efficiency.”
"Hybrid cars are becoming more and more prevalent in the market," says Curry, "and most people don’t understand how to work on them. We do. With 57 production models currently available, experts expect more than 100 hybrid models to be available on the market by 2015; so this is a definite and growing field."
Curry, as well as Dr. Quarto believes that the service will fill a void in aftermarket offerings for hybrids. “It is important to remember that conditioning is not offered by the dealer,” says Dr. Quarto, “They will replace entire battery packs unnecessarily when the reality is that eight out of 10 existing batteries with diminished performance only need to be conditioned. After having the battery conditioned, the customer will see a restoration in vehicle performance and increased fuel economy, closer to what they expected and experienced when they purchased the vehicle new."
Curry’s Auto Service has trained 20 of its staff from the company’s nine locations. The services will be available at approximately half of Curry’s service centers, which also sell Michelin, Uniroyal, BFGoodrich and other brands of tires.
For more information about Curry’s Auto Service, see the company’s website at www.currysauto.com. Information regarding aftermarket hybrid vehicle service technologies from AR&D can be found at www.go2hev.com.
