The argument for buying electric cars is often advertised with comparatively low maintenance costs. A US study has now found the opposite. Accordingly, these costs are significantly higher than for vehicles with internal combustion engines.
The US market analysts “We Predict” analyzed the actual costs based on maintenance documents in the study called “Deepview True Cost”. 1.6 million maintenance and repair orders for exactly 301 models were evaluated for the study; it can be considered representative.
The surprising result: the service costs for battery electric vehicles averaged 123 US dollars in the first three months. For comparison: vehicles with a classic gasoline engine only cost 53 US dollars in the same period. Hybrid vehicles – and in the USA these are mostly medium-sized, carefully moved family cars – were even slightly lower at US $ 46.
Spare parts prices are also high
If something breaks in electric cars, which apparently doesn’t happen that rarely, it gets expensive: According to We Predict, the average cost of parts was 65 US dollars, more than twice as high as pure gasoline vehicles (28 dollars). And the cost of the necessary work is also much higher at 58 dollars than the classic combustion engine (25 dollars).
If the damage is not self-inflicted, the manufacturer usually pays the maintenance costs for such young vehicles. We Predict boss James Davies points out, however, that the costs incurred after three months typically increase fifteenfold after three years, and after five years a factor of 20 should be applied. At some point the customer pays himself.
In addition to the high maintenance costs, drivers of electric cars also have to be prepared for massive losses in value in the long term. Customers and dealers in the US report that after eight to ten years the charging capacity of some electric cars is so low that the vehicles are practically unsaleable.
aum / Jens Meiners