4 ms·

That’s not taking into account the lower maintenance costs is it? Massively fewer moving parts in an electric vehicle “engine” aka drive train means less things

by SEJeff 4y ago

That’s not taking into account the lower maintenance costs is it? Massively fewer moving parts in an electric vehicle “engine” aka drive train means less things to break. The recommended service for a Model 3 or Model Y is every two years. No oil changes or alternators or fan belts etc.

throwaway0a5e 4y ago
People buying new cars don't care about lifetime TCO. They care about getting a trouble free 5-10yr. Maintenance costs on all vehicles (not just cars) are dominated by the stuff closest to the road, tires, brakes, wheel bearings and suspension/steering components, and stuff like that.
- bryanlarsen 4y ago
  Lifetime TCO is the correct metric. Yes, a new car buyer is probably going to sell the car after 5 - 10 years. But he's going to be selling it to somebody who really does care about costs. If they didn't care about costs they wouldn't be buying a used car! So the second buyer is probably even more willing to pay a premium for an EV than the original buyer is. Example: Save $2000/year in fuel costs with an EV, the EV has 3 owners, each for 5 years. The last owner should be willing to pay a $10K premium, the second owner a $20K premium and the first owner a $30K premium.
- SEJeff 4y ago
  You have significantly less brake wear on EVs that use regenerative braking (like Teslas). In fact, you use them significantly less due to the regen braking. It is easy to get really rusty brake pads post carwash because you use them so little. It is always recommended to make a point of using your brakes for a few days post carwash so this doesn't happen. All the rest of the time you can use one pedal driving for almost everything.
enragedcacti 4y ago
it probably is, you can try it out here if you'd like: https://keemut.com/tco https://keemut.com/tco I will say I don't really know how they come up with the maintenance numbers for EV or ICE. For a 2022 CR-V they quoted $7k for maintenance over 5 years which seems pretty high(4y/60k service plan would be under $2k easily from what I'm seeing), whereas a model Y over 5 years was at $700 which would be less than the cost of a single set of efficient tires rated for a vehicle as heavy as the Y.

by SEJeff 4y ago

throwaway0a5e 4y ago

People buying new cars don't care about lifetime TCO. They care about getting a trouble free 5-10yr. Maintenance costs on all vehicles (not just cars) are dominated by the stuff closest to the road, tires, brakes, wheel bearings and suspension/steering components, and stuff like that.

bryanlarsen 4y ago
Lifetime TCO is the correct metric. Yes, a new car buyer is probably going to sell the car after 5 - 10 years. But he's going to be selling it to somebody who really does care about costs. If they didn't care about costs they wouldn't be buying a used car! So the second buyer is probably even more willing to pay a premium for an EV than the original buyer is. Example: Save $2000/year in fuel costs with an EV, the EV has 3 owners, each for 5 years. The last owner should be willing to pay a $10K premium, the second owner a $20K premium and the first owner a $30K premium.
SEJeff 4y ago
You have significantly less brake wear on EVs that use regenerative braking (like Teslas). In fact, you use them significantly less due to the regen braking. It is easy to get really rusty brake pads post carwash because you use them so little. It is always recommended to make a point of using your brakes for a few days post carwash so this doesn't happen. All the rest of the time you can use one pedal driving for almost everything.

enragedcacti 4y ago

it probably is, you can try it out here if you'd like: https://keemut.com/tco https://keemut.com/tco I will say I don't really know how they come up with the maintenance numbers for EV or ICE. For a 2022 CR-V they quoted $7k for maintenance over 5 years which seems pretty high(4y/60k service plan would be under $2k easily from what I'm seeing), whereas a model Y over 5 years was at $700 which would be less than the cost of a single set of efficient tires rated for a vehicle as heavy as the Y.