Here are the 10 electric car maintenance tips to implement:
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- Read through the vehicle’s owner’s manual
- Maintain a proper battery charge
- Plan for long road trips
- Eliminate exposure to extreme temperatures
- Invest in a 240 Volt home charger
- Maintain the brakes
- Perform all tires maintenance
- Monitor fluid levels
- Enjoy the warranty
- Understand maintenance frequencies
If you're driving an electric vehicle, you might already know that these vehicles don't have a high number of moving components like the combustion system. As a result, they are much simpler and do not require regular maintenance, including oil changes and oil filters replacements, etc.
Although it's great to own an electric vehicle, you still must perform a specific type of maintenance to ensure the most out of your electric vehicle’s lifetime. This article provides you with 10 electric car maintenance tips that you must implement and be familiar with so you don't deal with major breakdowns suddenly.
Do electric vehicles need servicing?
Before we dive into the details about “electric cars maintenance tips,” it is important that we clarify every important point regarding electric vehicles. While it is common for electric vehicles to require less maintenance and not to cost you a lot after the initial costs, many people think that they might not require any servicing. However, that's not the case.
Like any other gasoline car, electric vehicles require a certain level of service at a certain interval. You won't need the same common type of services like oil changes or oil filter replacement and another type of maintenance and any gasoline car.
10 electric cars maintenance tips
While electric vehicles might cost you much more when purchasing than gasoline cars, they typically don't require high repair costs down the road. Therefore, you will save a ton by purchasing an electric vehicle.
It is important to note that electric vehicles are not problems free. In other words, you will still have to maintain the vehicle and prevent major breakdowns from happening, so you don't pay thousands of dollars on mechanical solutions.
The good news is that there are some tips and tricks that you can implement to extend the lifetime of your electric vehicle without dealing with major breakdowns. Let's take a closer look at what automotive experts recommend:
- Read through the vehicle’s owner’s manual
Although the vehicles owner’s manual of electric vehicles won't have regular maintenance like oil changes or fluid flushes, it is still extremely useful to go through the manual and understand all recommendations.
Typically, you won't see and need an oil change if you own an electric vehicle. However, if you own a car like Tesla Model S, you might need to perform a transmission fluid service once every 150,000 miles or 12 years, whichever comes first.
The more you familiarize yourself with the vehicles owner’s manual, the more you understand simple and small things that help extend the lifetime of your electric vehicle without costing a lot of money.
- Maintain a proper battery charge
Since the battery is the most critical component in any electric vehicle, you must keep a healthy battery all the time. However, dealing with major problems with vehicles battery requires a lot of repair costs because it is the most expensive component in an electric vehicle.
Typically, automotive experts recommend that you maintain an electric charge between 20 to 80% in any electric vehicle. If your car doesn't have sufficient charge, there's a very high chance of losing some of its lifetimes. Furthermore, overcharging the car's battery leads to major problems that might cost you more money than having a low charge in your battery. Thus, maintain the mentioned charge percentage for the best and most useful of your vehicle's battery.
- Plan for long road trips
If you like to use your electric vehicle for long road trips, you must plan. In other words, it should be fine to fully charge the electric battery in cases of long road trips. However, that should not be a common daily decision.
In your daily commute, you won't necessarily need the 100% charge, and therefore, you must maintain the charge closer to 80% without dealing with issues related to range Anxiety. Therefore, once you notice that your vehicle reached 80%, you should immediately unplug the vehicle.
- Eliminate exposure to extreme temperatures
Most electric vehicles get impacted by extreme temperatures, especially when charging the vehicle's battery. Therefore, you must keep the battery from exposure to extreme temperatures like very hot or cold temperatures. For example, if you used to park the vehicle outside, during hot summer days or very cold winter days, it might make the most sense to park your car inside the garage. Also, consider purchasing some isolation material that keeps the battery at the proper temperature range so you don't reduce its lifetime.
- Invest in a 240 Volt home charger
Most electric vehicles should be fine to get charged using the 110 Volt household outlet. However, if you're planning for a more convenient option, you might want to invest in a 240 Volt home charger.
These chargers are much faster, and you can achieve a good battery charger in a short time. However, although you can rely on the trickle charging systems using the 110-Volt household outlets, it might not be very convenient because it will take you about one hour to charge enough to run two to five miles. This is not convenient when going on road trips.
- Maintain the brakes
Typically, the brakes of electric vehicles last much longer than the counterparts of gasoline vehicles. Electric cars have an interesting breaking system that does not only help slow down and stop your vehicle and generate the necessary energy to recharge the battery.
Every time you lift your foot off the accelerator and then put it on the breaking paddle, the engine works as a generator and sends extra energy to the battery to get it to charge.
While you don't have to worry about brakes problems frequently, you still might need to change the brakes once every 100,000 miles. There are, however, some vehicles with brakes since 200,000 miles, and they did not require any replacement.
- Perform all tires maintenance
Whether you're driving an electric car or a regular gasoline vehicle, you must perform regular tire maintenance. Tires are not very different in electric vehicles as compared to gasoline cars.
Depending on how hard you use the vehicle and how harsh the roads are, you might need to replace the tires more frequently than usual. For example, some customers indicated that electric cars require tire replacement more frequent than gasoline vehicles because the cars are much heavier, especially with a big heavy battery.
However, many automotive experts argue that you should not worry about more frequent tire replacement in electric vehicles than gasoline cars if you use the vehicle properly without over-stressing it.
Therefore, whatever you used to do to maintain your tires in the gasoline vehicle should also happen on your electric car. For example, you must regularly inspect the tire pressure and look at the tread depth to make sure that your vehicle doesn't slip, especially if you drive on slippery roads.
- Monitor fluid levels
Electric vehicles do not have as much fluid as gasoline cars. However, you still need to maintain these fluids to the optimum level to maintain your vehicle. For example, while there is not as much coolant in electric cars as in gasoline vehicles, the thermal management system requires a certain amount of coolant to work properly and prevent electric car overheating.
Similarly, it doesn't have to deal with electric vehicles. However, you will still need enough windshield wiper fluid and brake fluid for your vehicle to run and prevent safety issues that have to do with your visibility and how you control the vehicle.
- Enjoy the warranty
One of the best features of electric cars is the extended warranty coverage. Many experts argue that electric vehicles have a better warranty coverage than gasoline cars, and most of these warranties last up to 100,000 miles or eight years, whichever comes first.
Therefore, enjoy the warranty and reach out to the dealership to understand what's covered under warranty and what's not. This way, you don't have to be worried about repair costs, and the earlier you take care of these repairs, the better it is for your electric vehicle.
- Understand maintenance frequencies
Whether you review the vehicle's owner’s manual or not, some common maintenance frequencies might also apply to your vehicle. However, we still recommend that you confirm with your vehicles owner’s manual about the following maintenance frequencies:
Monthly maintenance
At least once every month, you need to check the tire pressure, tire wear, and the windshield fluid washer.
Twice a year
You need to flush the underbody of your vehicle with plain water at least twice a year to get rid of any corrosive material.
Once every 15,000 miles
Change the wiper blades
Once every 36,000 miles
Replace the cabin air filter
Once every 75,000 miles
Change the body lift support gas struts
Once every five years
Replace the thermal system coolant and change it completely
Once every seven years
Inspect and repair the air conditioning system to get rid of all moisture or debris
How often does an older car need to be serviced?
According to automotive experts, your electric vehicle requires certain services at certain frequencies, as indicated in the previous list. Typically, you might need to replace the air filter once every 12 months or 15,000 miles, whichever comes first. Also, you might want to rotate the tires once every six months or 7500 miles.
You recommended going through your vehicle owner’s manual and confirming when exactly certain maintenance needs to happen so you can decide about the frequency of servicing you are electric vehicle, which differs significantly depending on the brand and the model year.
Are electric vehicles expensive to maintain?
No, it's the other way around. According to recent statistics, maintaining an old vehicle is much cheaper than the counterparts of gasoline cars. For example, some owners indicated that they only spent $30 during the first year of ownership for a gasoline car, whereas owners of electric vehicles spent only $7.00 for the first year.
Conclusion
Electric vehicles come with many benefits that not only help the environment but also help you as a driver. Although you have to pay much more for the initial prices of electric cars, the long-term price should not be very high because of the limited required maintenance on electric vehicles compared to gasoline cars.
Although you don't have to worry about much maintenance, there are some maintenance tips and tricks that you can't implement to extend the lifetime of your electric vehicle. Failing to implement these tips might put you in undesirable situations that cost you thousands of dollars on repair costs.
Despite what tips and tricks you implement, if your electric vehicle has major mechanical problems that must deal with core components, it might not be worth your investment and your efforts. Instead, experts recommend that you evaluate whether it's worth selling your electric vehicle now and using its value towards a better car that does not have any major problems.
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