Last Update: September 1, 2015

  1. Electric Car Ownership Economics
    1. Electric cars aren’t too expensive – you can own one for free
    2. Electric vehicle tax credits encourage adoption, help governments reach climate goals
    3. Electric cars drive cheaper, electricity is a cheaper fuel, calculating the cost of any fuel
    4. Electric cars are cheaper to maintain, no oil to change, no gaskets to replace, etc
    5. Saving on refueling time and other time costs associated with the cars
    6. How to calculate electric car cost per mile of range – which EV is more valuable
    7. Calculating effective trip speed – Fast charging cars more valuable
    8. Leasing insulates you against electric car price fluctuations
    9. Driving an electric cars is serenity, what’s “peace of mind” worth to you?
    10. Externalized car ownership costs that tilt the playing field towards gasoline cars
    11. Understanding car cost of ownership – gasoline, diesel, electric, etc
    12. Car cost of ownership models
  2. Altruism – Saving the World at What Cost?
    1. What’s the Cost of Inaction? Fossil fuels keep causing climate change
    2. Jeremy Jackson – Ocean Apocalypse – Naval War College Lecture
    3. Recognizing the future costs of climate change and resource wars
    4. What is it worth to avoid future climate change and environmental catastrophes?
    5. Peak Oil the long-term gasoline price (hint: UP) and electricity price (hint: STABLE)
    6. What’s your share of the cost of the global oil war?
  3. Don’t electric cars freeze up in Winter and become useless?
  4. Freedom from Fossil Fuels
    1. Biofuels – carbon neutral? sustainable?
    2. Environmental benefits of biofuels
    3. Will we get freedom from oil through fuel efficient cars and trucks?
    4. Environmental impact of Fossil Fuels and the Petroleum Industry
  5. Electric cars are safer than gasoline cars
    1. Chevy Volt battery pack fire in 2011
    2. Nissan Leaf car fires
    3. Tesla Model S car fires in 2013 and 2014
    4. Other electric car fires
    5. Lithium battery Flammability

Because there’s so few moving parts, electric cars don’t suffer routine break-downs, don’t need regular oil changes, etc, unlike gasoline cars. Electric vehicles are generally more reliable if only because of the fewer moving parts. It means much lower maintenance costs. Might electric vehicles be cheaper to own because you’re at the repair shop less often?

No oil changes, because there’s no oil to change. No gaskets to replace, no cylinder heads to machine, no spark plugs to replace, no valves to clog up, and on and on and on. Regenerative braking is less brake pad wear, and less frequent replacement.

Gasoline powered cars, on the other hand, seem like they’re designed to fail and therefore require maintenance. Maybe that’s why every car dealership has a repair shop out back? Trips to the repair shop cost you both time AND money.

Gasoline powered cars require oil changes every 3-5,000 miles, and routine replacement of other parts throughout the life of the car. Gasoline engines are complex and prone to breaking down, and there’s a large industry of companies devoted to car repair.

There's a lot to consider in maintenance costs, and as you can see below the two main sites for Total Cost of Ownership data don't agree on maintenance costs. What's common from all three estimates shown below is that ownership and maintenance costs are significant. But it's not clear how much an electric car saves in maintenance costs.

It seems the average oil change costs $45, with four of those a year that's almost $200 a year in savings on oil changes. Once you step inside Jiffy Lube they'll hit you up for other services on top of that, almost none of which are needed for electric cars.

According to a (newsroom.aaa.com) 2013 AAA press release the average maintenance costs for gasoline cars are:

Based on Driving 15,000 miles annually Small Sedan Medium Sedan Large Sedan Sedan Average SUV 4WD
Cost Per Mile 46.4 cents 61.0 cents 75.0 cents 60.8 cents 77.3 cents 65.3 cents
Cost Per Year $6,967 $9,151 $11,248 $9,122 $11,599 $9,795
Using the (www.edmunds.com) edmunds.com Total Cost of Ownership calculator, here's a few representative cars and some of their costs
Vehicle Fuel cost Maintenance cost Repair cost
(www.edmunds.com) Chevy Cruze 2LT Sedan $9,716 $3,760 $936
(www.edmunds.com) Chevy Volt $4,216 $3,607 $659
(www.edmunds.com) Nissan Versa $9,716 $3,387 $773
(www.edmunds.com) Nissan Leaf $3,638 $2,879 $773
Using the (www.kbb.com) Kelly Blue Book Total Cost of Ownership calculator, here's a few representative cars and some of their costs
Vehicle Fuel cost Maintenance cost Repair cost
Chevy Cruze 2LT Sedan $8,819 $2,311 $2,292
Chevy Volt $2,728 $1,663 $2,430
Nissan Versa $7,748 $2,388 $2,046
Nissan Leaf $2,357 $1,876 $2,328

About the Author(s)

David Herron : David Herron is a writer and software engineer focusing on the wise use of technology. He is especially interested in clean energy technologies like solar power, wind power, and electric cars. David worked for nearly 30 years in Silicon Valley on software ranging from electronic mail systems, to video streaming, to the Java programming language, and has published several books on Node.js programming and electric vehicles.
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