Motorists could save more than £300 per year on car maintenance by switching to electric cars according to Go Ultra Low, the ultra-low emission vehicle campaign. When combined with fuel savings, the total adds up to savings of more than £1,000 each year.
The Go Ultra Low study discovered that the average motorist spends £400 each year for servicing and maintenance for their petrol or diesel car – compared to the equivalent £96 annual costs for owners of electric cars.
For the county as a whole, the average cost racks up to £13 billion spend each year on maintenance and servicing for petrol and diesel cars, with a saving of up to £10 billion if every motorist switched to plug-in cars.
The main reason behind the difference in maintenance costs is the simplified powertrain found in electric cars, with fewer moving parts, things to go wrong, and consumables.
The calculations are fairly conservative too,with the Go Ultra Low survey reporting that more than one third of respondents who own petrol and diesel cars saying that they paid between £100 and £200 extra on unanticipated costs.
Poppy Welch, Head of Go Ultra Low, said: “Pure electric vehicles have fewer moving parts than cars with an internal combustion engine. This means that there are fewer things which require maintenance, and servicing is simpler and cheaper to complete with fewer consumables. Drivers dread unexpected large repair bills, but as more motorists switch to electric vehicles, these killer bills are becoming a thing of the past.
“It’s time that the British public realise just how cheap electric vehicles are to live with – and it’s not just the cut-price servicing. Fuel and running costs can be as low as 2p per mile and plug-in vehicles benefit from the lowest rates of tax, offering the average driver significant cost savings.”
Last year, Go Ultra Low revealed that motorists could cut £750 on their annual fuel bills by going electric. Today;s results show that more needs to be done to educate car buyers on the costs involved with electric cars. More than a quarter (26 per cent) of respondents think that electric cars are more expensive to run and 17 per cent consider plug-in vehicles to be more expensive to service.
