You’ve probably heard the news: ECU TESTING, the industry-leading automotive ECU remanufacturer, has been added to the TecDoc Catalogue. The company has been providing electronic control units and exceptional first-to-market rebuild services since 2005, and we’re excited that we have now become part of their journey.
We spoke to Roger Bagg, the managing director of ECU Testing, to gain insights into the business and its plans.
Please introduce ECU TESTING to us, Roger.
ECU TESTING is the market-leading automotive ECU (Electronic Control Unit) remanufacturer, offering first-to-market ECU remanufacturing solutions for the automotive aftermarket. We test and rebuild electronic control units (ECUs) that fit most vehicles on the road today.
Formed in 2005 in the heart of British engineering – Derbyshire, we are expanding year after year as the demand for our products and services continues to grow. Our customer base includes franchise main dealers, specialist garages and general workshops around the world, and we are proud to say that over 12,000 independent workshops regularly use our products within the UK alone.
As an expanding business, and with over 1 billion cars on the roads today, we are constantly developing the services that we offer, adding to our ever-increasing catalogue which covers the majority of European, American and Asiatic brands.
What changes have you seen in the market in recent years?
Over the past couple of years, we’ve noticed a higher demand for remanufacturing solutions for electronic control units rather than replacement ECUs.
We believe this to be due to various reasons: demand for parts that simply aren’t available is at an all-time high, and this creates a shortage of components required to build ECUs. In addition, the high cost of replacement ECUs is driving consumers to find alternative solutions, which is where we come in. We offer a much cheaper solution that is far more durable and offers enhanced reliability. The problem with new ECUs is that they still have the same inherent design flaw which made the original ECUs fail; remanufacturing is a better solution because those design flaws are eradicated.
Why the independent aftermarket?
We see the need for high-quality control unit remanufacturing solutions for the independent aftermarket. Control units from the manufacturers are very expensive and often specialised equipment is needed to program the new unit to the vehicle. Our remanufactured solutions allow the independent aftermarket to overcome both of these hurdles while providing confidence and peace of mind with our unlimited mileage lifetime warranty. With all our remanufactured ECUs, we offer full technical and diagnostic support to get the customers’ vehicles back on the road as quickly as possible.
Building sustainable solutions.
We aim to extend vehicle life for as long as possible while reducing the environmental impact of producing new parts. We offer an attractive solution to a problem that would normally force car owners to buy a new ECU or even in many instances a new car. Both of those options have a huge environmental impact due to the energy required to produce a new ECU or car. A remanufacturing solution limits the environmental impact as many of the original parts can be reused. We extend the life cycle of ECUs that could have to be replaced several times within a vehicle life cycle.
Why TecDoc? Why have you decided to become a TecDoc brand (Data Supplier)?
As part of our expansion into the international market, and TecDoc being a strong international player, all the boxes for reaching out to that market are ticked. TecDoc is connected with almost all key players in the IAM, enabling smooth cooperation among parts manufacturers, traders and workshops. It supports us in product life cycle management and sales by providing the ideal end-to-end system for accurate vehicle part identification.
You mentioned that around 12,000 independent garages work with you in the UK – what benefits do you provide?
The main issues garages face when they have failed ECUs are:
- Long turnaround times for new ECUs
- Availability of new ECUs
- New ECUs require complex programming procedures, which not all garages have the equipment or knowhow to perform
- High cost of new ECUs
- Reliability of new ECUs.
Our solution is designed to tackle all these problems within a target two-day turnaround time. All our remanufactured ECUs do not require any programming as all the original software is retained. A remanufactured solution is considerably cheaper than a new ECU and, what’s better, our remanufactured ECUs come with an unlimited mileage warranty.
What are your plans and ambitions?
We plan to expand into more territories around the globe, with a primary focus on Europe. We are constantly expanding our product lines and making exciting strides into the EV market. With the rising cost of parts and the current shortage of electronic components, we are adopting a more sustainable approach with remanufacturing as an alternative to replacement parts.
In the EV market, we are investigating the life cycles of electronic control units and how they fail, we aim to offer the same remanufacturing solution for EV control units as we do for ICE vehicles. However, EV control modules face the challenge of very high loads, making them fail in different and often unique ways. The process for testing and remanufacturing these control modules is very complex and changing, which means that our already revolutionary processes have had to be adapted, enabling us to evolve alongside the future of the automotive industry.
Thank you, Roger, for the interesting insights!
Discover ECU Testing’s complete offerings and learn more on its website: https://www.ecutesting.com/
