Is Its finally time. You’ve decided on electric. It works out financially beneficial and you’re doing your bit for the environment. It all sounds great, but now you’re worried about how much it will cost to service. Well, in short, you don’t need to worry at all.
Electric Car Servicing
Part of the doubt cast over potential converting customers around owning an electric car is how you go about servicing and holding up the maintenance. Never mind how much you’ll save, how much are you going to have to fork out to ensure your shiny new electric car keeps running perfectly?
To be blunt, not a lot. Compared with a petrol or diesel engine, an internal electric motor is really easy to find and fix problems with. This means, in theory, that electric models should be cheap to service. Much of what makes an electric motor work is fixed in place, whereas a regular fossil-fuel-powered engine has many moving parts. If all of these are not running to their full capacity, you’ll soon see a chain reaction of events that will ultimately leave your vehicle completely unreliable or incapable of moving at all. A more detailed look at how an electric motor works can be digested by Electrical Motor Engineering.
That said, engines (or electric motors) are only one aspect of a vehicle. Electric cars still feature steering, suspension and brakes that will need to be looked after like a regular car. Even though fossil fuel-powered cars and battery-powered cars use similar systems, there are still some differences to keep in mind before committing to purchasing the latter.
There are plenty of other options if electric cars are out of your financial viability at this time. When purchasing a car, its important to consider that just because something might save you money over a long period of time, it might be too financially damaging to purchase outright compared to a cheaper up front alternative.
If you’ve already done your finances and an electric car is definitely your best option, then read ahead for the differences you should look out for.
Experience
When it comes to the actual experience an owner has servicing an electric car compared to a petrol or diesel, you wont find much difference at all. It goes a little something like you’d imagine it might. After a predetermined period of time or a certain amount of miles covered, you take your car to a mechanic or garage to get them to service it and have it back on the road in no time.. The question remains though, what are you getting for your money with an electric car service?
Which parts of an electric car need servicing?
When it comes to servicing an electric car, the major area that the garage will check is the electric motor. Once this is given the all clear, they will move on to the battery pack, electric cabling, and interior technology. After this, the checks are the same as a regular fossil fuel car. Brakes, tyres, suspension ect…
Electric motors require minimal servicing thanks to a handful of bearings taking the majority of any wear and tear. A garage will also look at the health of your electric battery. This doesn’t mean taking the car out and physically inspecting it. A good garage will just plug their equipment into the car’s computers and analysing the data. For this reason, its worth checking with your local garage that they have the correct equipment to get the best analytical data for your vehicle. Ideally, ring ahead when booking rather than booking online. Advanced Service centre in Essex for example, will not only service to the manufacturer’s standards, but will often exceed them when completing their car service in Grays.
At the same time, a visual inspection of the high-voltage cabling is often taken out to make sure heavy usage hasn’t caused the protective outer layers of a cable to damage or its connectors to break completely.
Much like traditional cars, electric cars might have minor and major services. This is because not all parts of a car need checking (or replacing) as regularly as others, so for some services it is okay to skip a few of the more reliable parts. Naturally, minor services will cost you less money and time. You will of course need to undergo a major service as some stage, so don’t be tempted to continuously just book minor services to save money. To understand which service might suit your car condition, you can read Whichcar’s guide to minor v major servicing.
Verdict
Overall, don’t let electric car servicing become one of your doubts when deciding to make a purchase on an electric car or not, just make sure the garage you’re using has the correct equipment to get your car back on the road in its best condition as quick as possible.
