Myth busted - Electric vehicles cost more to maintain than gas cars do

Thank you for adding this. It is a valid point and I get what you are saying. One can ignore things like brake fluid changes, inspections of drive shaft boots, all that stuff, in any car, EV or ICE. Rather than rotate tires one can just buy them more often when they wear unevenly and become loud and have no tread on one side. I am actually guilty of not changing brake fluid in a car and then having the rear calipers both freeze. I wish I had done the suggested brake fluid change to prevent that. The fact remains though that the two leading electric vehicle makers in the US both do have maintenance guidelines, both do charge for the maintenance, and their competitors' ICE cars do not cost more to maintain according to the manufacturer's guidelines. This could change. BMW is about to start selling an EV and could include the maintenance as it does for all its ICE cars. However, for now, the two cars that make up 90% of all the pure EV sales in North America are not less expensive to maintain than ICE cars.

you sould read your manual... there is a cabin filter on your leaf, also the brake fluid is recommended to be changed often too, at 15k and then every 20k .

Hi, I am a big fan of electric ; however, my Mazda Truck has run 250,000 miles with only oil changes and a few clutch slave cylinders replaced at a cost under 500 dollars (I did all the work). Dust and rust are the devil to electric batteries and electric motors, and both are really expensive to replace . Also, heat will kill a electric motor real fast. Electric is great for farm tractors and heavy industry trucks and also college professors drive to campus and someday it might even be all we have in the future. Now it's gas/elect.

Nope. It is also the 33 inspections, and 4 tire rotations that owners pay for we pointed out in the article. That combined puts the Leaf way behind the example car used, the Toyota Prius, which includes these things at no added cost to the owner. The same would be true for a Corolla. By the end of the second year the Leaf is already in the hole $600. That is why the Cars.com examples (with links) shows that over 5 years there is no cost of ownership advantage to the Leaf. FYI, "Severe condition" is the default for Nissan's service manual as shown by the link. Most manufacturers use this term. It means if you drive where it is sometimes winter (they cite salt, cold starts etc), or dusty, or unusually hot, or if the car is often driven in stop in go traffic, or has a lot of cold starts with short drive intervals (like to a commuter rail parking lot close to home and then back at the end of the day). I kid you not. Feel free to blame the messenger(s). Doesn't make it untrue.

You nailed it. . As you say, the brakes are rarely used due to the electric motor regenerative braking capability of the car, so they don't move, or cycle, as often as brakes in other cars. Changing the fluid more often helps prevent the calipers from freezing in place. Caused by moisture in the fluid. Google the phrase "Frozen brake caliper"

In my opening paragraph I assert that it indeed, the electric cars' designs SHOULD cost owners less. However, the facts are the facts. Tesla wants your service money and has two ways for you to pay. In advance (see link) or when you bring the car in (as the owners have reported.) In my defense my argument also includes a link to the pricing page for Tesla's service and a link to the BMW free service plan page. Plus a complete overview of the other cars in the Tesla's price range. My argument is not simply subjective. I do appreciate your comments though, and you and I agree that electric cars SHOULD be costing customers less than ICE cars for maintenance.
- On the point that ICE car makers bake in the costs for the internal combustion engine's maintenance - absolutely true. However, remember that in the case of BMW the oil is NOT changed on any short interval. It uses a lot more oil in the engine, and also a synthetic that only requires changing about every 15,000 miles. This reduces the cost of labor significantly. Let's not pretend that there are any manufacturers left with 3,000 mile oil change intervals. Times have changed and ICE engines have dramatically improved in this regard.

Wow. Thank you for this excellent overview. Very generous of you to share. Indeed, the 9 year older Prius does have a higher cost to maintain than the 2014 would. The 2 years of included maintenance started with the 2013 model year. You're right the Nissan quote seems high. I included the link to the CR quote on the brake fluid change because it was so expensive. I think it was actually the cost to do all the other checks and filters too. Lexus charges me only $169 to have the brake fluid changed in my Highlander and it is only every 30K, even with the "severe" duty.

Thanks for posting this Tinhart (cool name BTW). I appreciate your sharing this real-life cost info with us very much. Your main point is correct and I won't argue that there are some matchups that show EVs to be less expensive to maintain. In fact when the i3 launches I assume it will be cost-free for 5years/50K like the other BMWs are. I do think my matchup of the Prius and Leaf is valid, but you make a good point. - - I think it is fair to consider that some Mfgs add in service. I start out saying I agree that EVs SHOULD cost less. That said, Tesla includes electricity at its SCs at no charge and the Tesla folks LOVE that and they make a lot of positive comments about it with regard to COO. So I think the story is not really too misleading. Perhaps if more folks write stories like this with real data from the Mfgs Nissan and Tesla (Honda and Chevy) would feel pressure to even-up the free maintenance periods. Thanks again for adding your (accurate) perspective.

Thanks JP, I am inclined to expand on one point you make. On thing that has always bugged me about automotive dealerships is that they have this list of stuff to do on my car that goes beyond what is required by the manufacturer to keep the warranty. Seem like stealing almost and I think it is high on the list of the car dealerships' biggest sins. You are basically claiming Tesla is doing exactly what the car dealers do. To me this is a much worse accusation than saying EVs (as currently offered) are not less expensive to maintain than ICE cars. - - To your more basic point, the fact is that Tesla has a list of stuff it recommends and it charges for those services. If the customer does not pay for them they do not get done by Tesla. Call it what you like.