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I recently did a video, now more like an indictment, of the internal combustion engine and its bizarre need for this thing called a head gasket just to keep everything else from blowing up.
And then some of you wrote in and said, wait a minute now, the electric cars aren't exactly maintenance free either.
So in the sense of balance and fairness, you're right.
Let's look at the top five electric car maintenance needs.
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And things that could lead to repair.
I'm gonna rank these in order of kind of how much they weigh on your overall ownership of the car.
So here we are, let's take a look at what you have to maintain under the hood of an EV, or wherever they keep these things.
[SOUND] Number 5 is tire rotation.
I put this one down at the bottom because it's common to all cars, even though you don't do it to yours.
But on EVs it remains important if not more so, because they swap out their heavy transmission engine for a heavy battery, putting a lot of load on tires still.
And, also, EVs have killer torque, able to really.
Twist those tires hard if you get into it, and that tends to shred tires as well.
So you wanna get maximum life by moving them around all four corners.
Tesla says rotate Model 3 tires every 6,250 miles.
miles.
Chevy Bolt and Leaf, every 7500.
Number four is the braking system on your car.
Not the pads and rotors.
We'll get to that.
But the fluid that puts pressure on the pads and rotors.
This is key Key because if it gets full of water or gets stagnant and polluted, it doesn't work right.
Now you may say wait a minute, electric cars do their breaking via regeneration.
The electromagnetic resistance that puts power back in the battery.
That is true, but not all the time.
Depending how you drive and where, this is gonna be a system that you use quite a bit and you don't want it to be crapped out when you need it.
All cars need this.
EVs do as well.
On a Model 3, every 2 years or 25,000 miles and on a Chevy Bolt, it's every 5 years.
Number 3 is the coolant in your electric car.
That's right, there's no engine.
But there's a cooling system.
Want to see a fire you can grill over?
Forget the notes seven, try a Tesla or a Bolt, whose cooling systems not running right.
The model three needs is coolant replaced every four years or 50,000 miles.
A Nissan Leaf though, goes 125,000 miles.
Miles and a Chevy Bolt even longer, a hundred and 50 K. That's basically the next guy's problem, unless you buy a used one.
Number two is break service.
Now we are talking pads and rotors, the friction parts.
Now these are much more long-lived on a EV that a combustion car, because most of your breaking, as we mentioned, is done by the drag of regeneration when you lift off the accelerator.
But it's gonna vary widely based on how many miles you drive, what style you drive, what terrain you drive in and over, and what region settings you like to select on your EV.
So I can't give you a tidy number of number of miles or number of months before you gotta get the brakes done.
That said if I drove an electric car, that would absolutely be my number one game.
Can I own it for whatever number of years and never replace the pads unless they get too many cobwebs on them.
The number one maintenance item on your EV is the part that puts the e in front of v. Your electric car's main or motive power battery.
This is the heart of your car's range and, therefore, its livability as well as your car's residual value, whether you're leasing or buying it.
This is the heart of the beast.
Take care of it like you used to take care of an engine in your regular combustion car.
EV batteries can suffer when sitting too long in overly hot or cold temperatures, just being parked.
A Chevy Volt, for example, wants to be plugged in below 32 or above 90 to manage its temperature.
You don't want an EV to sit and fully discharge if you're not driving it for a couple of weeks.
You don't wanna charge it too high or top it off too often.
Now dealing with all those things is a lot easier and cleaner than dealing with tune ups and oil changes.
But it's kind of a similar cognitive low.
These may be easier to live with but that doesn't mean they are maintenance free.
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