Consumer Reports: EV & PHEV Owners Saving 50% On Maintenance & Repairs

EVs may cost more than gas cars, but gas cars cost twice as much for repairs and maintenance over the life of the vehicle.

Tesla Model 3 charging

Steven Loveday

By: Steven Loveday

Sep 25, 2020 at 11:59am ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

According to new data and analysis from Consumer Reports, plug-in electric car owners are saving 50 percent on maintenance and repair as compared to gas cars. As we wait for EVs to reach price parity with ICE vehicles, we can have peace of mind knowing that with cost of ownership factored in, there are huge savings related to EV ownership.

Consumer Reports used data from its 2019 and 2020 reliability surveys, which includes information about thousands of electric and gas vehicles. The analysis concluded that electric car (BEV and PHEV) drivers are saving an average of 50% over gas cars when it comes to maintenance and repair over the life of the vehicles, which is defined as 200,000 miles.

We'll have more details at a later date since Consumer Reports has released this data as a small piece of a full upcoming white paper comparing cost-of-ownership data for electric and gas vehicles. The study also finds that electric vehicles produce an average of 60 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than gas cars.

These findings on maintenance and repair costs are part of an upcoming white paper by Consumer Reports that compares the cost of ownership for electric and gas-powered vehicles. The full white paper will be published in the coming weeks. For this report, ‘vehicle lifetime’ was defined as 200,000 miles.

Associate Director of Consumer Reports' Auto Test Center Gabe Shenhar shared:

"Electrics just don’t need as much maintenance as gas-powered cars, and even though repairs won’t necessarily be less expensive, they are less frequently needed. In addition to being easier and cheaper to maintain, many EVs deliver better acceleration compared to gas-powered vehicles, and don’t pump harmful pollution into our air."

Read These Articles For More Insight:

Tesla Model 3 Final Cost To Own: Every Expense From Purchase To Sale

Tesla Model 3 Vs Honda Accord Hybrid: 5-Year Cost Of Ownership Analyzed

What do you think?

View

Comments

Consumer Reports' data suggests the following maintenance and repair costs for BEVs, PHEVs, and ICE cars:

BEV: $0.03/mile
PHEV: $0.03/mile
ICE: $0.06/mile

It's especially interesting that PHEV owners are saving as much as BEV owners. This doesn't make much sense since a PHEV has a gas engine and all the same maintenance and repair concerns as a gas-only car.

Source: Consumer Reports via Green Car Congress

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Insideevs.com?

Take our 3 minute survey.

- The InsideEVs team

Share this Story

GO TO COMMENTS

(

)

Got a tip for us? Email: tips@insideevs.com

View all comments ( )

Trending

Kia EV3 Lease Deals Are Here, And It’s Cheaper Than The Chevy Bolt And Nissan Leaf

I Let Android Auto Plan My EV Roadtrip. Here’s How It Worked

This Chevy Bolt Has 470,000 Miles. Here’s How Much A New Battery Was

Here's What It's Like To Take Delivery Of A Rivian R2