How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

When a consumer is considering making a long-term purchase – a home, car, or large appliance – one of the biggest sticking points can be the maintenance and associated repair costs. High-volume items that consumers are not as familiar with as an electric vehicle (EV) may not immediately see how much maintenance is required.

Battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) owners pay only half as much as conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. That’s the result of a recent Consumer Reports (CR) study. How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

Let’s take a look at the study results to see how much electric vehicle owners save compared to gasoline cars. We will also see why these savings are occurring and how much maintenance EV owners need each year. How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

Maintenance required by Electric vehicle.

Just like another frequently used piece of machinery, even electric powered automobiles want periodic renovation and the occasional repair. However, as compared to ICE cars, a way much less paintings is wanted annually.

EVs do require a twice-a-12 months provider take a look at for the car device and tire rotations. These assists keep most useful battery overall performance and the EV`s longevity.

EVs in operation for longer than eight to ten years and after the producer guarantee expires will probable additionally want a battery alternative at a few points. A new battery can variety from $5,000 to $10,000. However, many enterprise analysts count on battery expenses to drop substantially with inside the subsequent 10 years because of enhancing production manufacturing procedures and technological innovations.

How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

How to Compare Electric Vehicles: EV Buyer’s Guide

Difference in maintenance cost for electric vehicles.

CR collected data from hundreds of thousands of its members in its 2019 and 2020 Spring Reliability Surveys to provide information on the actual cost of maintenance and repair for all types of vehicles.

After extensive analysis, CR found that BEVs averaged $ 0.031 in repair and maintenance costs per mile over the life of the car. PHEVs are estimated to cost about $ 0.030 on average over the life of the car. Meanwhile, ICE vehicles averaged a whopping $ 0.61 over the life of the car.

Together, total lifetime repair and maintenance costs for BEV and PHEV average $ 4,600, while Internal combustion engine vehicles average $ 9,200. This is a $ 4,600 difference in savings for both BEV and PHEV.

The study uses 200,000 miles to represent the normal life of a car. On this basis, when analyzing the total mileage of the vehicle, the cost estimates were divided into three categories: 0 to 50,000 miles, 50,000 to 100,000 miles, and 100,000 to 200,000 miles. This allowed the study authors to obtain a more robust data set that could be averaged for their bottom line.

The study authors noted, however, that their results are subject to some degree of uncertainty due to sample size. Still, the authors admit that their projections may overestimate the long-term maintenance and repair costs associated with current-generation BEVs. As automakers continue to learn more from older models and implement new innovations based on that knowledge, BEV technology should improve, which can lead to even lower maintenance and reporting costs. How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

Charging your EV: How Do EV Charging Stations Work?

Savings from maintenance of electric vehicles.

With electric vehicles, owners can save money on gas while reducing their carbon footprint, but they also have other savings built in.

Reduced lifetime maintenance and repair costs are due to electric vehicles having a fraction of the moving parts of International combustion engine vehicles. That means there are no oil changes and no need for new spark plugs, catalytic converters, or other exhaust systems. All of this, of course, in addition to the savings you get from forgoing regular gas purchases. How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

In addition, electric vehicles use a regenerative braking system. This allows the car to recover energy and store it in the battery when the vehicle slows down. This not only increases efficiency, but also reduces wear on the mechanical braking system, which over time reduces the need for new ones. How Expensive Is EV Maintenance?

As we can see, electric vehicles are much less expensive than gasoline vehicles. The same CR analysis found that “the lifetime cost of ownership for the most popular electric vehicles on the market below $ 50,000 is typically $ 6,000 to $ 10,000 less than best-in-class gasoline vehicles.”

Savings over the life of an electric vehicle compared to Internal combustion engine vehicles can make a big difference to the owner and should not be overlooked.

 

The fact that the maintenance and associated cost of an electric car is much less than that of a gasoline car should not go unnoticed. To encourage the purchase and dissemination of electric vehicles, it is important to highlight the long-term economic savings.

Often the message on the importance of protecting the environment and health alone is not enough for people to switch to electric vehicles without being certain of the concrete short-term benefits.