Th3 Core
Why We Are Here => Hardware & Technology => Topic started by: rcjordan on October 03, 2020, 02:31:36 PM
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https://cleantechnica.com/2020/09/26/its-official-consumer-reports-confirms-ev-owners-spend-half-as-much-on-maintenance/
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Good find. Thank you.
This answers a question that has been on my mind a lot. Given our rural location, I think it's a tough sell to have an EV as your only vehicle. But PHEV seemed like the stupidest idea of all: all the mechanical problems of an ICE and all the problems of an EV. I assumed it would be a maintenance nightmare when looking at TCO.
And yet... it pencils out almost the same as an EV. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how that can be. The reason they give (https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/press_release/electric-vehicle-owners-spending-half-as-much-on-maintenance-compared-to-gas-powered-vehicle-owners-finds-new-cr-analysis/) for the low maintenance costs of an EV are
According to CR’s experts, simpler powertrains in EVs and no need for oil changes are likely reasons for the lower costs.
But a PHEV pushes that in the other direction.
PS, from the linked PDF that has the full CR report
estimates were reweighted based on calculated average maintenance costs for each automaker and the average market share over the past five years for each brand, using data from auto industry analyst Wards Intelligence. The sample size for PHEVs and BEVs was not large enough 4 to do a similar automaker weighted average calculation, but for ICE vehicles the difference between the automaker weighting and the total average sample for each mileage bin was negligible.
In other words, that brand that charges a premium in sticker price because it's reliable, probably has statistically indistinguishable long-term maintenance costs from that other car that is from some other brand
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And, when you get to higher mileages, the sample size is very low. Again, from the PDF linked in that article
The data show that repair and maintenance costs are slightly higher for PHEVs than for BEVs until the 100,000-mile mark, and slightly lower beyond 100,000 miles. It should be noted, however, that there is a higher degree of uncertainty in these numbers because of a lower sample size: A little over 200 PHEV vehicles with more than 100,000 miles, and only 55 BEVs. Furthermore, the 55 BEVs with more than 100,000 miles were predominantly early versions of the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S, suggesting that our projections may overestimate the long-term maintenance costs expected from current-generation BEVs as automakers learn from their early models. These estimates will continue to be refined over the next few years as more data on more electric vehicles at higher mileages become available in Consumer Reports’ survey sample.
But since those numbers on based on two early models which likely would have more problems, not fewer, it seems likely that the difference will grow moving forward
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We have an old thread around here about NYCs EV fleet maintenance record. IIRC, it was coming in around 50% of their gas-burners.
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I remember that. I get it for EVs. Makes total sense. What I don't get is the PHEV cost. I would have guessed it would be the highest, not essentially the same as the BEVs
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>What I don't get is the PHEV cost.
Me either. I've not even considered PHEVs due to increased complexity.