Electric vehicle naysayers often point to battery replacement and maintenance costs as reasons not to buy one, but that’s not really the case. Automotive News reported on a recent study from CDK Global, which showed that many EV owners experienced lower maintenance costs than they did with gas cars, but that response doesn’t paint the whole picture.
CDK found that 53 percent of non-Tesla owners and 41 percent of Tesla owners had lower maintenance costs than they did with gas vehicles. Additionally, many take advantage of automakers’ mobile service options, with 19 percent saying they’d used the service last year, up from 14 percent the year before.
While those are encouraging data points for EVs, owners also said their service visits tended to take longer with electric vehicles. Tesla owners reported waiting 23 percent longer for repairs, and 34 percent of non-Tesla owners experienced the same delay. People also reported having to make more than one visit to fix a problem.
David Thomas, CDK’s director of content marketing and automotive industry analysis, said, “We know dealers are prepared for EV service, but our most recent findings show EV owners are waiting longer to have their cars serviced, and it’s taking multiple visits to have their issues resolved. The fact that these numbers are getting worse is not a good sign, as more non-Tesla EVs are on the road than ever before.”
[Images: Kia, Tesla, Rivian]
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