Electric vehicle parts, especially large high voltage batteries, challenge all aspects of the aftersales business. EV parts, however, aren’t the only difficult parts to manage; there are similarities with other rapidly evolving parts. This session will include all rapidly evolving parts, EV or not, in an inventory and supply planning discussion. The session will not cover rapidly evolving parts’ warehousing, transportation, or dealer readiness. 

Topics we plan to cover include:

• Identifying parts that need to be managed differently – everyone is aware of batteries, but which other parts need special treatment?
• Understanding service levels for rapidly evolving parts, especially batteries – is there a compelling reason to change the planned fill rates for these parts?
• Selecting and working with suppliers of parts that are critical yet may not be backwards-compatible (not only batteries, but also circuit boards/chips, etc.) 
• Setting retention policies for rapidly evolving parts given the rate of technological change
• With the retention policies in mind, how are end of life strategies developed for these parts? Are all-time buys feasible, and how can they be managed appropriately?