We tend to think of electric vehicles (EVs) as a relatively new thing. They are not. The first electric car – though quite crude by today’s standards – was built in the 1830s at a Dutch university. Less than 100 years later Studebaker began making electric cars. They only stopped because the internal combustion market offered more opportunity.
Today, we are on the cusp of eliminating the internal combustion engine altogether. For most of us, that means being faced with the decision of whether or not to buy an EV in the coming years. There are plenty of considerations, including the possibility that maintenance costs could be lower for an EV than a gasoline-powered car.
Electric Vehicles Cost Less
Consumer Reports’ Benjamin Preston published a piece in September 2020 discussing research into electric vehicle maintenance costs done by the nonprofit organization. Preston cites research that demonstrates electric vehicles “need less maintenance and generally cost less to repair.” Assuming the assertions are true, why?
Preston contends that it boils down to fewer moving parts. That makes sense. An electric motor is simple compared to an internal combustion engine. Your typical gasoline engine is comprised of hundreds of different parts, many of them moving, while electric motors have only a few dozen.
Fewer parts mean fewer opportunities to break down. But let’s not stop there. Drivetrains for EVs are considerably less complicated as well. They also have fewer moving parts. When you consider the vast ocean that makes up car repair, many of the most common repair problems involve engines and transmissions.
A Higher Retail Cost
Preston makes a good case for lower maintenance costs being an attractive reason to buy an EV. On the other hand, there is a trade-off: EVs cost more on the lot. In fact, they cost many times more. Cost is one of the main reasons that Tesla vehicles are still a niche product despite easily being the best EVs on the market.
Cost pretty much boils down to the batteries. According to Pale Blue Earth out of Salt Lake City, Utah, lithium ion batteries are expensive to manufacture due to the cost of the materials that go into them. It is why their batteries cost more than alkaline disposable batteries. If that is true at the consumer level, imagine the cost problem for carmakers.
One of Tesla’s goals is to reduce battery costs enough to build a more affordable version of its most popular model. They intend to have that less expensive car on the market within a year or two. Let us say they succeed. A comparably priced EV suddenly becomes a bit more attractive when you add in lower maintenance costs.
Cheaper Will Win the Day
Regardless of where you stand on the electric vehicle issue, there is no denying that cheaper will win the day. We already have evidence of this. Again, Tesla has done a masterful job designing and building a reliable EV capable of competing with any gasoline-powered car on the road. Yet their sales are dwarfed by Ford, Chevy, and the rest because of price.
Likewise, there is a stark lack of charging stations across the U.S. Why? Because building them is not cost-effective. Fuel stations cannot justify the cost compared to the relatively low number of EVs that need them.
From the consumer’s standpoint, cost is the biggest factor. If car companies can find a way to make electric vehicles cheap enough to compete, people will gladly buy them. And if they can achieve that with overall lower maintenance costs, they will win the day outright.
