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It's annoying that they don't make it more clear that's what they are doing, but the gas saving is a real thing. I used to spent $120 a month on gas, that went

It's annoying that they don't make it more clear that's what they are doing, but the gas saving is a real thing. I used to spent $120 a month on gas, that went to $45 a month of electricity, then I got on a Time of Use plan where electricity is cheaper at night and now my monthly "fuel" cost is $15.

vvanders 8y ago
Yup, I was spending $400/mo on gas which is now close to $50/mo before you figure in oil change costs. Quite a few cars/trucks run synthetic these days which can really start adding up.
- mrfusion 8y ago
  But how much are you going to pay to replace the battery?
  - steelframe 8y ago
    There's tons of data on EV batteries from the past 5+ years. At least for Tesla, battery degradation is not a problem.
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/16/tesla-batteries-have-90-capacity-after-160000-miles-may-last-for-500000-miles/ https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/16/tesla-batteries-have-90... "Actual Tesla owners report about a 5% drop in battery capacity by the 50,000 mile mark but after than, the rate of degradation drops considerably. On average, cars with 160,000 miles on them still have 90% of their battery capacity remaining. Projecting forward from the real world data available, a Tesla battery should still have 80% battery capacity after 500,000 miles of driving, the group claims. The vast majority of internal combustion engines would have stopped functioning long before then." Assuming a conservative usage of 20k miles/year, it will take you 25 years to reach 500k miles.
  - vvanders 8y ago
    I'm at 85k miles and still going strong so I'm not worried.
- eMSF 8y ago
  Not really. Oil changes (in a car comparable in size to Model 3) cost me about 50 USD per 25000 km, or 15000 mi, indeed because the oil is synthetic and fulfills certain criteria. In any case it's a rather insignificant amount compared to fuel costs, especially with fuel taxes as they are. If oil change costs start to add up, there's a significant possibility of you doing something wrong (including the choice of vehicle).
  - vvanders 8y ago
    Well first off I'd probably never run a 15k interval. Pretty sure that's beyond mfgr spec. We run 7k in our diesel on full synthetic. Stretching a maintenance interval seems pennywise and pound foolish. You also have to consider how much your time is worth of you're changing it yourself to get that cost. Either way it's an added cost(along with transmission, differentials, etc) that you just don't incur on EVs. Right now my maintenance schedule is brake fluid @40k and coolant @100k and tires, that's it.
    - jaggederest 8y ago
      You want to do oil analysis like the professional diesel mechanics do. Most people don't need to change their oil anywhere near as often as the manufacturer specifies. Especially for large diesel engines, it's often fine to run them 3x-5x the interval, but you should do oil analysis and find out, instead of just using the rule of thumb ones the manufacturer gives you.
    - sunstone 8y ago
      On my 2017 Prius oil changes are every 16000 km at the dealership.
    - ollie87 8y ago
      Heh, my car is on a 18,000 mile interval for the oil changes. It will also adjust based on how you drive it, it only asked for it's first service at 19,000 miles.
    - AlgorithmicTime 8y ago
      My car recommends a 10k interval, and I imagine there's some wiggle room built in to that, so 15k doesn't seem impossible.
CydeWeys 8y ago
The point is that's amortized over the lifetime of the car though, and isn't an up front savings like a lower cost would be. If you're taking out a 6 year auto loan then it's the same effect, but if you're taking out a shorter loan or paying cash it's not.

vvanders 8y ago

Yup, I was spending $400/mo on gas which is now close to $50/mo before you figure in oil change costs. Quite a few cars/trucks run synthetic these days which can really start adding up.

mrfusion 8y ago
But how much are you going to pay to replace the battery?
- steelframe 8y ago
  There's tons of data on EV batteries from the past 5+ years. At least for Tesla, battery degradation is not a problem.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/16/tesla-batteries-have-90-capacity-after-160000-miles-may-last-for-500000-miles/ https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/16/tesla-batteries-have-90... "Actual Tesla owners report about a 5% drop in battery capacity by the 50,000 mile mark but after than, the rate of degradation drops considerably. On average, cars with 160,000 miles on them still have 90% of their battery capacity remaining. Projecting forward from the real world data available, a Tesla battery should still have 80% battery capacity after 500,000 miles of driving, the group claims. The vast majority of internal combustion engines would have stopped functioning long before then." Assuming a conservative usage of 20k miles/year, it will take you 25 years to reach 500k miles.
- vvanders 8y ago
  I'm at 85k miles and still going strong so I'm not worried.
eMSF 8y ago
Not really. Oil changes (in a car comparable in size to Model 3) cost me about 50 USD per 25000 km, or 15000 mi, indeed because the oil is synthetic and fulfills certain criteria. In any case it's a rather insignificant amount compared to fuel costs, especially with fuel taxes as they are. If oil change costs start to add up, there's a significant possibility of you doing something wrong (including the choice of vehicle).
- vvanders 8y ago
  Well first off I'd probably never run a 15k interval. Pretty sure that's beyond mfgr spec. We run 7k in our diesel on full synthetic. Stretching a maintenance interval seems pennywise and pound foolish. You also have to consider how much your time is worth of you're changing it yourself to get that cost. Either way it's an added cost(along with transmission, differentials, etc) that you just don't incur on EVs. Right now my maintenance schedule is brake fluid @40k and coolant @100k and tires, that's it.
  - jaggederest 8y ago
    You want to do oil analysis like the professional diesel mechanics do. Most people don't need to change their oil anywhere near as often as the manufacturer specifies. Especially for large diesel engines, it's often fine to run them 3x-5x the interval, but you should do oil analysis and find out, instead of just using the rule of thumb ones the manufacturer gives you.
  - sunstone 8y ago
    On my 2017 Prius oil changes are every 16000 km at the dealership.
  - ollie87 8y ago
    Heh, my car is on a 18,000 mile interval for the oil changes. It will also adjust based on how you drive it, it only asked for it's first service at 19,000 miles.
  - AlgorithmicTime 8y ago
    My car recommends a 10k interval, and I imagine there's some wiggle room built in to that, so 15k doesn't seem impossible.

CydeWeys 8y ago

The point is that's amortized over the lifetime of the car though, and isn't an up front savings like a lower cost would be. If you're taking out a 6 year auto loan then it's the same effect, but if you're taking out a shorter loan or paying cash it's not.