Are electric cars reliable, maintenance free?
Their motors are maintenance-free but owning an electric car is like having a balloon payment, there is a BIG, hugely expensive maintenance item down the road for people who keep cars a long time: out-of-warranty battery replacement. Not to mention the fast depreciation and all the complex electronics and wiring to fail, more than even today's gasoline cars. Some electric car owners have found this out the hard way and have taken their own kind of action. So yeah, you won't need to do oil changes, but you pay in other ways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zAhwiQ95Wg
Aside from what drives the car forward. You still have suspension, steering components, brakes, radiator, etc...to contend with, and as @legendaryslayer mentioned, tires. EV's still need gears that change the electric motor’s drive-gear ratio and transfer power to a differential, which splits that power between the wheels, so there is a transmission to also contend with.
So, it depends on what you consider maintenance free ?
No.
Nothing is maintenance free in this world.
If you look at the most reliable automotive brands today (relative to other brands in the industry, of course) Toyota, Honda, Mazda still rank much higher than Tesla - arguably the poster child for the EV revolution. Tesla has had more quality issues than you can count, and wait till you have to pay for the repairs (including battery replacement) out of warranty.
Even though there are less moving parts, but now you have even more computers and electronics along with the software running them, plus the push to autonomous driving - these all add another layer of complexity that’s resulting in less reliability and higher cost for the consumer (down the road out of warranty).
Add to that the initial high cost and many constraints (such as long charging times, not being able to charge to 100% - not without degrading the battery, not being able to go on long distance road trips without very careful planning, not being able to drive in the middle of nowhere if you wanted to, not being able to tow heavy loads if you wanted to without the range being severely reduced, less DIY-friendly, propensity to catch on fire, poor resale value, etc)
Don't forget the problems with the auto-pilot. I saw a news story last night where someone was watching a movie while his Tesla was on autopilot and the Telsa slammed into a police car and that police car was pushed into another police car. That's one feature that should disabled until it can truly drive the car autonomously.
It's eventually becoming the new norm to see at least one Tesla recall a day on the news.
NO.
Even ConsumerReports say that Electric cars are the least reliable.
especially Tesla that doesn’t know basic car design, and at the same time, doesn’t want you to fix their junk.
In theory, EV’s should be lower maintenance than their ICE counterparts. EV and ICE engines still share many components, as listed by others.
The big difference is the electric motor versus ICE engine, no transmission vs transmission (for many), and huge battery vs no huge battery.
Electric motors, TMK, need little to no maintenance. Likewise no emissions testing. ICE engines need oil, spark plugs, possibly coils. And it also needs coolant to be replaced too.
Since most EV’s don’t have a transmission, you don’t need to worry about that. ICE needs the transmission fluid changed.
And eventually down the line, an EV battery will need to be changed. There is no huge EV battery to deal with in an ICE car.
Tesla battery replacement costs $22,500, not including the battery recycling fee.
Hello and wellcome!
Scotty recently uploaded a video where you also can hear an answer to your question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CXiKgiMxQg
If Tesla is the definition of an EV then that thing is in no way reliable. You read about recalls and issues with the car a lot. My least concern would be the battery; their cars have more serious issues. Then comes the fact that they've been making their cars in a way that only their own service people can work on it. Maybe when Toyota has an EV available that would change my mind about EV reliability and maintenance.
One advantage of electric cars is you don't need to maintain your car except tires of course. The downside is that it's not going to last as long as internal combustion engine vehicles.
The EV fanboys (er fanpeople) seem to think their batteries will last 300,000-500,000 miles. I did read an article that claimed one owner had 750,000 miles on their battery. I find it difficult to believe those batteries would last that long. But I have heard that someone is working on building a 1 million mile battery. I wouldn't think that many people would keep their vehicle for more than 300,000 miles (but it has been known to happen).
The EV folks also ignore that fact that age is at least as much of a factor as mileage. You'll be lucky to get 8-10 years out of lithium-ion batteries, and before that time their capacity will be substantially reduced just due to age even if you put hardly any mileage on them at all.
The claim that "you only need to service tires" is just false.
-
ON THE TOPIC OF REGULARLY SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE:
According to the official manual of a popular EV - service should be done regularly and some services include: replacement of the anti-freeze in the battery cooling system, brake fluid every 25k miles or 1 year, gearbox oil (single speed) every 50k miles, air filter housing every 30k miles, and running a "cell balance program" every 15k miles AND MORE!
-
Quite honestly? I'd rather do maintenance I'm already familiar with - It costs nothing anyway.
On the car I have on order, I reviewed the maintenance schedule and it's: Engine oil and filter every 5k miles, gearbox oil every 30k miles, spark plugs every 45k miles, serpentine belt and coolant every 75k miles - each service costs almost nothing ($20 5W-30, $10 filter, $20 ATF SP-IV, $25 Belt, ... doesn't any significant)
-
ON THE TOPIC OF REPAIRS AND SERVICE WORK:
Any even well built car WON'T have significant POWERTRAIN issues bellow 120k miles or 8 years of age.
The things that brake aren't powertrain related - most of them are other equipment.
But the diffrence is that on an EV - that equipment costs a lot more.
-
BUT after 120k miles or 8 years, when the powertrain of your gasoline car probably has a lot of life left in it - on an electric you are likely to begin experiencing failures - and it gets really expensive really quickly.
How much does a single speed gearbox cost? How much does a cell balancing / replacement cost? How much is a motor generator? how much is an inverter?
Things that just never brake on a Corolla (like brake booster pumps) cost triple or even quadruple on a Hybrid - on an EV where everything is powered by electricity? I'd expect 5x and good luck finding ANYONE who knows how to repair it.
Not to mention electrical issues - what's currently causing the most issues even for owners of brand new cars.
Also, EVs are some of the least reliable cars in the world.
-
I'd expect that it'll take another 10-15 years, sure there's a chance that they'll figure it out - if it's even possible.
The jury is out, let's see how much of the 2019 last gen. RAV4 Hybrids sold will remain on the road in another 7 years - if battery technology is anything like it has been so far, not many.
@dan and @chucktobias I can see why people would downvote based on your guys' claims
I don't, I don't think anyone should downvote a post bellow 0. but it's their right to do what ever they want.
-
Just to verify the claims, here's a chart of how fast current battery technology degrades, absolute trash.
And as far as Tesla, their battery tech has been very mediocre, even car and driver admitted it.
It's hard to find info on how batteries degrade over time on teslas (not over millage) so until then I'd advise everyone to steer clear of those
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35203450/tesla-model-3-battery-capacity-loss-warranty/
@dan I think people usually downvote because they logically disagree with their statements. In this case, you have to do more than just tires. I didn't consider a lot of things out of my head. It does kind of make you heartbroken but oh well I'll deal with it. Yeah you are right lithium-ion batteries are asinine.
I'd love to see the LeMans 24 hour done with electric cars. Or any other gruelling race.
I still wouldn't watch it though, and I still wouldn't buy an electric car even if they all miraculously got through it without issues.
As mentioned, NOTHING is 100% reliable and maintenance free. Since there is minimal infrastructure to support a population of EV's for repairs, I would stick with the ICE for now. While they do break down, they can be repaired by most mechanics everywhere in the good ole USA.
