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My ice vehicle is nigh 2 decades old and besides wear parts my total investment on repairs is under $500. I’m still getting 30 mpg and although I’m not anti electric 15 years of no car payment is hard to beat.
I specifically excluded wear parts. At 300k miles I’ve replaced the tires about 4 times (they wear in the front but i move them to the back and they seem to last forever), the brakes & pads/drums & fluids twice although the second time was due to an error in installation on my part, belts once, headlamps once, spark plugs twice, and wiper blades bi-yearly. The alternator was my only non-wear repair and that came in around $300. Also note i do all my own work which i have no confidence for in an electric vehicle although i have to claim complete ignorance, some systems may be identical…
People really overstate the maintenance difference. It’s basically oil changes, which with synthetic oils are a 2-3 times per year thing depending on driving amounts. In electrics, you have a massive battery that’s going to dictate the value of the car at around the ten year mark, an ice car can be 7-10k, but electric is either 0 or pay 15k to have a car maybe worth that much or slightly more.
Are your tires and brake pads bald as fuck? Neither of those are cheap and have to be done every few years on ICE vehicles.
You are horribly underestimating battery lifespan. They are warrantied for 10 years. They average about 300k miles before dropping to 80% of their original charge. If you are fine with that, many are fine to go longer.
Tires wear the same on battery cars. Brakes are similar, though they were less due to regenerative braking, they also need to be bigger for the heavier weight.
Brakes wear way way less on EVs. You basically never use the brakes. Yes, the EV is heavier, but the regen is strong enough to slow down a car in all but the hardest of braking circumstances.
There are also timing belts, engine seals, coolant flush and fills (there’s a debate on whether that is worth it), transmission fluid, oil filters, air filters, spark plugs, and the lead acid battery. None of those are really a thing on EVs except the battery, but it’s much smaller and cheaper.
My ice vehicle is nigh 2 decades old and besides wear parts my total investment on repairs is under $500. I’m still getting 30 mpg and although I’m not anti electric 15 years of no car payment is hard to beat.
How is that possible? Tires alone will be that cost. Oil changes over 20 years? Even if you only changed oil annually for 20 years for $20 thats $400.
Not that you should ditch your car. I have a 12 year old with similar performance.
I specifically excluded wear parts. At 300k miles I’ve replaced the tires about 4 times (they wear in the front but i move them to the back and they seem to last forever), the brakes & pads/drums & fluids twice although the second time was due to an error in installation on my part, belts once, headlamps once, spark plugs twice, and wiper blades bi-yearly. The alternator was my only non-wear repair and that came in around $300. Also note i do all my own work which i have no confidence for in an electric vehicle although i have to claim complete ignorance, some systems may be identical…
People really overstate the maintenance difference. It’s basically oil changes, which with synthetic oils are a 2-3 times per year thing depending on driving amounts. In electrics, you have a massive battery that’s going to dictate the value of the car at around the ten year mark, an ice car can be 7-10k, but electric is either 0 or pay 15k to have a car maybe worth that much or slightly more.
Are your tires and brake pads bald as fuck? Neither of those are cheap and have to be done every few years on ICE vehicles.
You are horribly underestimating battery lifespan. They are warrantied for 10 years. They average about 300k miles before dropping to 80% of their original charge. If you are fine with that, many are fine to go longer.
Tires wear the same on battery cars. Brakes are similar, though they were less due to regenerative braking, they also need to be bigger for the heavier weight.
Significantly less for brakes. That regenerative braking does the vast majority of the work unless you are slamming on the brakes often.
Brakes wear way way less on EVs. You basically never use the brakes. Yes, the EV is heavier, but the regen is strong enough to slow down a car in all but the hardest of braking circumstances.
There are also timing belts, engine seals, coolant flush and fills (there’s a debate on whether that is worth it), transmission fluid, oil filters, air filters, spark plugs, and the lead acid battery. None of those are really a thing on EVs except the battery, but it’s much smaller and cheaper.