Electric vehicles have fewer moving parts compared to a combustion engine car. This makes it more mechanically reliable than ICE variants. Electric vehicles do not demand change in oil, their brake pads last much longer and electric drive units ask for minimal attention. In the real world scenario, Tesla is known to be light on its owner pockets when it comes to maintenance costs.
An analysis by Consumer Report reveals that Tesla may not be the best built cars, but they are relatively cheap to buy. Over the years, Teslas have known to be having problems in terms of build quality, but such issues could mostly be solved through over-the-air updates. Being an EV, it demands lesser maintenance and it’s going to save you money in the long-run.
As per the Consumer Report which took into account one-to-five year costs and the six-to-ten year costs, Tesla’s claimed to have the lowest maintenance costs for both these periods. The EV supergiant was followed by Buick and Toyota. It was surprising to see German Giants Porsche, Audi, Mercedes and BMW feature at the bottom of the table. The worst performer was Land Rover.
According to CR analysts, the difference on car maintenance for some brands can be thousands over a ten-year time frame. It was observed that expensive luxury vehicles are quite expensive to maintain. The reports suggest that ownership of expensive cars from domestic brands is cheaper than foreign brands. Amongst the German brands Volkswagen demanded the lowest maintenance. Also Lexus was much lower than Toyota, this despite being products from the same parent company.