Will Electric Cars Require More Maintenance?

This post , part of a series we ’re running all aboutelectric car , was written by Christopher Lampton from HowStuffWorks.com .

In the root , your master job in keeping your electric car well - keep is going to be finding a automobile mechanic who know how to do it . Most auto mechanics are prepare in working with internal combustion engines and may be surprised when they look under the cap of your car to witness out that it does n’t have one . This means that ( at least initially ) you ’ll probably have to take your auto to the dealership for most servicing .

look on how good your guarantee is , thismay or may not be you morethan depart to the favorable mechanic at your local service place . The truth is , though , that even the dealer is break to find it difficult to regain a pot to consign you for when service a fair new electric car . That ’s because of thesimplicity of the electric motorthat drives it . The motor contains perhaps half a dozen moving parts , as compare to the hundreds of working share in an internal combustion locomotive engine . There ’s just not that much in an electric elevator car motor that can wear out and , when it does , it ’ll be relatively simple to exchange .

Chances are that by the fourth dimension your new car ’s five - twelvemonth warrantee runs out , even the mechanic at your local service department will have learned how to serve an electric motor and he probably wo n’t charge all that much to do it , either . This is n’t to say that there are n’t other wear upon - and - tear issues relevant to an galvanizing gondola that will be the same as with a gas - driven one , but expenses related to the motor will be trivial . Maintaining an electric automobile , according to some approximation , will cost about one - third the current cost of maintaining a gasoline - power elevator car . The bottom dividing line is this : galvanizing cars require well less sustenance than gas - push back cars .

That is , until the electric battery begins to wear out .

Most of what you ’ll discover under the hood of an galvanic car isbattery . The regalia of power cells that construct an electric car test is with child , heavy and complex . It does n’t require much day - to - twenty-four hour period alimony , but as anybody with a laptop figurer or an iPod can tell you , it will gradually recede its ability to contain a charge . The longer you own an electric car , the shorter its driving range will become . This will begin happening from daylight one , but the alteration will be so wearisome at first that you wo n’t notice and it wo n’t stop exercise all at once , either . galvanic railcar batteries do n’t so much break down as they fade away . Most estimates presage that the typical Li - ion electric car bombardment will be effective for more than 100,000 stat mi ( 160,934 klick ) of driving while still maintaining a decorous driving compass . But it ’s potential that one day you ’ll decide that you simply notice yourself recharging your barrage fire too often and you ’ll take your car back to the dealership , or perhaps to a battery specialty shop , to get the barrage fire supercede .

And when you see the broadside , you ’ll probably faint .

A battery pack for a Nissan LEAF , for representative , is estimated to be about $ 15,000 , an disbursement that Nissan may have to take a loss on to start with to get the initial price of the machine down low enough to stimulate sales . The just newsworthiness is that the U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal of bringing down the cost of galvanic elevator car batteries 70 percentage by the twelvemonth 2014 ; however , fit in to the Wall Street Journalmany expert do n’t conceive this will be potential . At least you might be able to get some business deal - in note value for your erstwhile battery , sincethe parts can be reusedand people with minimum drive indigence might be happy to buy a secondhand battery with a reduced cooking stove . And , with any fortune , the cost of a replacement battery will be less than $ 15,000 by the time you really need it . But when battery alternate metre undulate around you may just opt to get a new car instead – unless you own a $ 100,000 galvanizing Tesla Roadster , in which instance thebattery replacementcosts might seem trashy compared to the cost of the whole car .