US Government confirms: electric vehicles cost 40% less to maintain

It’s Official: US Government Says Electric Vehicles Cost 40% Less To Maintain

The latest information from the US government shows battery-electric cars cost less to maintain than conventional cars, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids.

We have heard it over and over again — electric vehicles cost less to own. The reasons are fairly obvious. A vehicle with an internal combustion engine and transmission has about 10,000 parts whirling around in order to make it go. A battery-electric car has less than 10. Fewer parts means fewer things that require servicing which in turn means paying less money to technicians to keep our transportation devices running.

While we understand intuitively that electric vehicles should be less expensive to maintain, now there’s proof. The US government operates the largest vehicle fleet in the world, so it stands to reason it should know a thing or two about how much it costs to keep them all running.

In its latest study, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy says,

“The estimated scheduled maintenance cost for a light-duty battery-electric vehicle (BEV) totals 6.1 cents per mile, while a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) totals 10.1 cents per mile. A BEV lacks an ICEV’s engine oil, timing belt, oxygen sensor, spark plugs and more, and the maintenance costs associated with them.”

The government did what the government does best. It drilled down into all the details of vehicle maintenance and came up with the above chart. Notice that hybrids and plug-in hybrids also had lower maintenance costs than conventional cars but only slightly so.

Source: Clean Technica, Steve Hanley