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Are electric cars maintenance-free?

What kind of upkeep does an electric car need if it doesn’t have a gas engine? No oil changes, or anything like that, right? Just curious about whether electric cars are maintenance-free.

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Jason Crosby · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Great question! Although they’re definitely more reliable and have less upkeep required, electric cars aren’t maintenance-free. Here’s the scoop on what kind of maintenance your electric car needs, which includes:
  • Yearly scheduled maintenance for a checkup on its electric system. Have a mechanic inspect wiring connections, and your battery to make sure everything’s working properly.
  • Brake replacement, eventually.
    Electric cars
    use regenerative braking, which means that your brake pads will experience less friction and reduced wear-and-tear, compared to traditional cars. But they’ll still wear out at around 60,000 miles.
  • Battery replacement—but like your electric brakes, expect it to last quite a long time before you’ll need to replace it. EV batteries are often rated to endure up to 10-20 years of use before needing to be swapped out.
  • Tire rotations. As with gas-powered vehicles, electric car drivers need to have their tires rotated every 6,000 miles to ensure that they don’t wear out their tread too quickly, or unevenly.
Compared to traditional vehicles, electric car owners get to skip out on oil changes, and a battery replacement every 3-4 years. Less maintenance and fewer moving parts are why EVs are considered more reliable and cheaper to own; they are, however, more expensive to purchase off the lot.
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