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I would never consider purchasing a competing luxury car (BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc) but I bought a Tesla. Tesla has a far lower TCO due to the greatly reduced

I would never consider purchasing a competing luxury car (BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc) but I bought a Tesla. Tesla has a far lower TCO due to the greatly reduced maintenance. Electric is way more fun to drive than ICE. I feel like the quality is great but again this is coming from someone who has never owned a luxury car, and only ever owned/driven Hondas, Toyotas, and Subarus.

chasd00 7y ago
TCO is something I haven't thought about. My 4runner needs an oil change, and maybe an air filter, every so often but that's about it. What other maintenance is required for ICE that isn't required for electric?
- saturdaysaint 7y ago
  The gp was comparing to luxury performance cars, which typically eat through brakes, tires and suspension equipment 2 - 4x as quickly as a non-lux/performance car like your Toyota. They also typically require premium fuel and have unimpressive gas mileage. I'm skeptical of Electrek claims that they're a better value than an Accord or Civic, but for a performance car/status symbol, they really do look to be a solid value.
- latortuga 7y ago
  The list is actually quite long! Oil, oil filter, transmission fluid, coolant, power steering fluid, radiator, hoses, belts/chains, spark plugs, ignition system, exhaust system. I'm sure there more that I have forgotten. You can even consider that brake pads will last way longer due to regenerative braking.
  - Merad 7y ago
    EV's definitely have an advantage in terms of maintenance, but I suspect it's a bit overstated. Most of the things you listed get checked during normal maintenance and might require replacement or adjustment once or twice during the car's lifetime. The big elephant in the room (and possibly an equalizer) is battery lifetime. How long will the battery really last, and how much will replacements cost?
  - mywittyname 7y ago
    Except for oil and oil filter, those things are "lifetime" on most cars built today. So the service life is >120k miles, 20 years, or needs to be replaced as part of a separate repair. Power steering units are all electric now; outside of trucks, I don't think GM products have drain plugs on their automatics; ignition systems are all solid state. Even oil change intervals are inching up past 10k miles. Modern ICEs are surprisingly light on maintenance. Tires are the biggest maintenance costs for cars, by a pretty healthy margin. I'm sure all Teslas are hard on tires. The amount of torque those motors put out is crazy, and they have an undersized tire relative to the weight of the car. Primacy MXM4 aren't cheap either, at $300 each for the smallest size offered on a TM3.
- TacticalTable 7y ago
  In theory, the electric car should require less long term maintenance as well, as there are dramatically fewer moving parts. These items wouldn't emerge in the first five years (and you probably have less to worry about in a Toyota) but eventually things just start going a little wrong, even with a healthy maintenance schedule. These mechanical failures are less likely in a simpler vehicle.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

chasd00 7y ago

TCO is something I haven't thought about. My 4runner needs an oil change, and maybe an air filter, every so often but that's about it. What other maintenance is required for ICE that isn't required for electric?

saturdaysaint 7y ago
The gp was comparing to luxury performance cars, which typically eat through brakes, tires and suspension equipment 2 - 4x as quickly as a non-lux/performance car like your Toyota. They also typically require premium fuel and have unimpressive gas mileage. I'm skeptical of Electrek claims that they're a better value than an Accord or Civic, but for a performance car/status symbol, they really do look to be a solid value.
latortuga 7y ago
The list is actually quite long! Oil, oil filter, transmission fluid, coolant, power steering fluid, radiator, hoses, belts/chains, spark plugs, ignition system, exhaust system. I'm sure there more that I have forgotten. You can even consider that brake pads will last way longer due to regenerative braking.
- Merad 7y ago
  EV's definitely have an advantage in terms of maintenance, but I suspect it's a bit overstated. Most of the things you listed get checked during normal maintenance and might require replacement or adjustment once or twice during the car's lifetime. The big elephant in the room (and possibly an equalizer) is battery lifetime. How long will the battery really last, and how much will replacements cost?
- mywittyname 7y ago
  Except for oil and oil filter, those things are "lifetime" on most cars built today. So the service life is >120k miles, 20 years, or needs to be replaced as part of a separate repair. Power steering units are all electric now; outside of trucks, I don't think GM products have drain plugs on their automatics; ignition systems are all solid state. Even oil change intervals are inching up past 10k miles. Modern ICEs are surprisingly light on maintenance. Tires are the biggest maintenance costs for cars, by a pretty healthy margin. I'm sure all Teslas are hard on tires. The amount of torque those motors put out is crazy, and they have an undersized tire relative to the weight of the car. Primacy MXM4 aren't cheap either, at $300 each for the smallest size offered on a TM3.
TacticalTable 7y ago
In theory, the electric car should require less long term maintenance as well, as there are dramatically fewer moving parts. These items wouldn't emerge in the first five years (and you probably have less to worry about in a Toyota) but eventually things just start going a little wrong, even with a healthy maintenance schedule. These mechanical failures are less likely in a simpler vehicle.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]