Previously I looked into how electric cars can save you around 13 hours a year by charging at home. Now I will explore how owning an electric vehicle saves you time with maintenance. Speaking from personal experience, we have had no required maintenance in the three years of owning two electric cars. Electric cars have fewer moving parts, no need for oil changes, and longer cycles between brake changes. Dealers have cited a 35% to 50% decline in service and maintenance.
Gas-Powered Cars Require Frequent Maintenance
When I owned my internal combustion car, I got my car serviced about three times per year. Typical maintenance work included oil changes, regular maintenance, and tire care within a year. Vehicle maintenance usually occurs during the weekend since most work during the week. This cuts into your valuable free time with family and friends. On average, driving to your local service center, dropping your vehicle off, and completing paperwork typically takes about 20 minutes. Services can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours to complete. Most people will likely wait about an hour for the average service. Once the service is complete, it takes longer to check out, pay for your service, and then drive back home. So, add on another 20 minutes. Altogether, the time you spend getting your vehicle serviced takes about one hour and forty minutes!
Taking the above example into account means that three maintenance services in a year eat up about five hours a year. In addition to lost time, vehicle maintenance is expensive. So, electric car owners can save an average of 18 hours per year between maintenance and skipping the gas station, which is quite liberating!
Since we have owned our two electric cars for over four years, we have only had three types of services conducted on our electric vehicles. We needed to replace a blown-out tire. In this case, a mobile technician came to our vehicle and changed our tires. The other instances involved a mobile technician visiting our home to do the work. The technical fixed some poorly aligned hoods and doors and some seating issues. We also, after three years, needed to replace our 12-volt battery. A mobile technician was dispatched to our home to fix the problem, which is a much more convieniant way to get your vehicle serviced.
Over-the-Air Updates Save Time
One of the other cool time-saving features that have applied many fixes has been over-the-air updates. Just like your smartphone, most electric cars receive software updates over the air. Those software fixes can improve your vehicle range, acceleration, and many other features that the carmaker can remotely fix through software.
Beyond less frequent maintenance and charging your electric car at home, there are other ways owning an electric vehicle saves you time and brings convenience to your life. To learn more about maintenance costs or to find an electric car that fits your lifestyle needs, check out our Vehicle Finder at Electric Driver.