6 ms·

I think you've got an extra zero in there somewhere $35k - $26k = $9k $9k / $0.12/mile savings ~= 75,000 miles breakeven

mgrandl 3mo ago
And that is completely ignoring maintenance cost which tends to be a lot cheaper on EVs.
- IshKebab 3mo ago
  Somewhat cheaper anyway (30% according to https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/petrol-vs-electric-servicing-costs-2025/ https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/petrol-vs-electric-servicing-... ), but I wouldn't be surprised if that is wiped out by the increased insurance costs. I definitely wouldn't buy an EV based on lower service costs.
  - bryanlarsen 3mo ago
    That's based on the manufacturer's "lets not upset our dealers" maintenance schedule and is completely unnecessary. In reality you can probably bring your EV to the dealer once every 4 years or so. On that schedule you should: - check the brake fluid for water - change the cabin air filter - change the gearbox oil - check/change the battery coolant If you're going in more frequent than that you're getting a very expensive windshield wiper replacement. The real kicker is going to be repair costs. An EV has about 10% of the moving parts of an ICE car, so in theory repairs should be much less frequent. But if the ICE is a Toyota and the EV is a Tesla, YMMV. You'll probably have to replace the battery at around 250,000 miles but at that point the car is worth pretty much scrap value anyways.
    - aidenn0 3mo ago
      4 years for replacing the cabin air-filter? Do you live somewhere with no pollen or smoke? I replace mine annually, but it's easy enough to do myself (right behind the glovebox, needs zero tools)
    - Marsymars 3mo ago
      FWIW, my 10+ year spreadsheet of the maintenance costs on my last ICE lined up pretty well with that - about 1/3 of the costs were ICE-specific issues, 2/3 were for parts that would have been common to an EV. > In reality you can probably bring your EV to the dealer once every 4 years or so. Not really, I need twice-yearly seasonal tire changes/rotations.
      - bryanlarsen 3mo ago
        How much of that 2/3 was brakes? In 100,000 miles on our ICE we replaced brakes twice and they likely need replacing soon again. On our EV at 100,000 miles they look like they'll last another 100,000.
        Marsymars 3mo ago
        Brakes were ~8.5% of the total, or ~17% of the 2/3. Some combination of being light on brake use (manual + efficient driving) and the road salt used here means I replaced the brakes from corrosion before they wore down from use. I could budget for yearly service (rather than the never-service-until-required plan I went with) that would presumably lengthen the lives of my brakes as far as corrosion is concerned, but at current shop rates that would cost more than what my brake replacements cost.
      - Suppafly 3mo ago
        >Not really, I need twice-yearly seasonal tire changes/rotations. Are you somewhere where you actually need dedicated winter tires or have you just convinced yourself that rocking all weathers all year isn't feasible?
        Marsymars 3mo ago
        That feels like a bit of a trick question - as big as I am on dedicated winter tires, I think a lot of people are sleeping on modern all weathers. So, living in Alberta, and spending significant time in the AB/BC rockies in the winter, I still think all weathers would be feasible, but I'm more comfortable with dedicated winters. (For that matter, when I'm buying winters, I'm always borderline on whether I should get studded or not.) (And as a parallel effect, with dedicated winters I can also run higher performance all-season tires during the summer.) And if I ran all-weathers with my driving patterns, I'd still want to be rotating them yearly, so that would cut my dealer visits by half, but definitely not to once every 4 years. And tying back to my last ICE vehicle - for the first 4 years of its life it would have been okay without a dealer visit if you took tires/oil changes out of the equation, but not for any 4-year period after that. There are just too many random little things that break down in cars over time. (e.g. after 12 years or so the cruise control buttons were getting really mushy - I replaced them myself for the cost of the $65 part, but YMMV on whether you feel a service visit is warranted when removing your steering wheel air bag.)

mgrandl 3mo ago

And that is completely ignoring maintenance cost which tends to be a lot cheaper on EVs.

IshKebab 3mo ago
Somewhat cheaper anyway (30% according to https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/petrol-vs-electric-servicing-costs-2025/ https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/petrol-vs-electric-servicing-... ), but I wouldn't be surprised if that is wiped out by the increased insurance costs. I definitely wouldn't buy an EV based on lower service costs.
- bryanlarsen 3mo ago
  That's based on the manufacturer's "lets not upset our dealers" maintenance schedule and is completely unnecessary. In reality you can probably bring your EV to the dealer once every 4 years or so. On that schedule you should: - check the brake fluid for water - change the cabin air filter - change the gearbox oil - check/change the battery coolant If you're going in more frequent than that you're getting a very expensive windshield wiper replacement. The real kicker is going to be repair costs. An EV has about 10% of the moving parts of an ICE car, so in theory repairs should be much less frequent. But if the ICE is a Toyota and the EV is a Tesla, YMMV. You'll probably have to replace the battery at around 250,000 miles but at that point the car is worth pretty much scrap value anyways.
  - aidenn0 3mo ago
    4 years for replacing the cabin air-filter? Do you live somewhere with no pollen or smoke? I replace mine annually, but it's easy enough to do myself (right behind the glovebox, needs zero tools)
  - Marsymars 3mo ago
    FWIW, my 10+ year spreadsheet of the maintenance costs on my last ICE lined up pretty well with that - about 1/3 of the costs were ICE-specific issues, 2/3 were for parts that would have been common to an EV. > In reality you can probably bring your EV to the dealer once every 4 years or so. Not really, I need twice-yearly seasonal tire changes/rotations.
    - bryanlarsen 3mo ago
      How much of that 2/3 was brakes? In 100,000 miles on our ICE we replaced brakes twice and they likely need replacing soon again. On our EV at 100,000 miles they look like they'll last another 100,000.
      - Marsymars 3mo ago
        Brakes were ~8.5% of the total, or ~17% of the 2/3. Some combination of being light on brake use (manual + efficient driving) and the road salt used here means I replaced the brakes from corrosion before they wore down from use. I could budget for yearly service (rather than the never-service-until-required plan I went with) that would presumably lengthen the lives of my brakes as far as corrosion is concerned, but at current shop rates that would cost more than what my brake replacements cost.
    - Suppafly 3mo ago
      >Not really, I need twice-yearly seasonal tire changes/rotations. Are you somewhere where you actually need dedicated winter tires or have you just convinced yourself that rocking all weathers all year isn't feasible?
      - Marsymars 3mo ago
        That feels like a bit of a trick question - as big as I am on dedicated winter tires, I think a lot of people are sleeping on modern all weathers. So, living in Alberta, and spending significant time in the AB/BC rockies in the winter, I still think all weathers would be feasible, but I'm more comfortable with dedicated winters. (For that matter, when I'm buying winters, I'm always borderline on whether I should get studded or not.) (And as a parallel effect, with dedicated winters I can also run higher performance all-season tires during the summer.) And if I ran all-weathers with my driving patterns, I'd still want to be rotating them yearly, so that would cut my dealer visits by half, but definitely not to once every 4 years. And tying back to my last ICE vehicle - for the first 4 years of its life it would have been okay without a dealer visit if you took tires/oil changes out of the equation, but not for any 4-year period after that. There are just too many random little things that break down in cars over time. (e.g. after 12 years or so the cruise control buttons were getting really mushy - I replaced them myself for the cost of the $65 part, but YMMV on whether you feel a service visit is warranted when removing your steering wheel air bag.)