Do Electric Vehicles Need Oil Changes?
No – Because an electric vehicle employs an electric motor rather than an internal combustion engine, it does not require motor oil. Oil is required to lubricate various moving parts in traditional gas vehicles’ combustion engines.
An engine’s valves, pistons, and other moving parts should glide past one another smoothly at high speeds, which is why oil is introduced to the engine to lubricate these interactions and reduce friction.
When oil is added to an engine, it allows it to run without seizing or overheating. Tiny metal flakes that develop in the oil as a result of metal-on-metal contact must be removed after a while, so you drain the oil and replace it with new or fresh oil to keep the car’s engine operating smoothly.
In an electric vehicle, however, none of this occurs. An electric motor and a battery are usually used in electric vehicles. There are no lubrication requirements for valves, pistons, engines, or other moving parts. As a result, electric vehicles do not require regular oil changes.
So, what powers an electric vehicle?
The following are some of the most important elements of an electric vehicle that help it to move:
- Battery: The battery in an electric car generates electricity to power the vehicle’s components.
- Charge port: This allows the car to charge the battery by connecting to an external power source.
- The DC/DC converter: Transforms higher-voltage direct current (DC) electricity from the battery to the low-voltage DC power required to run the vehicle’s components and recharge the battery.
- Traction motor: This motor uses the car’s batteries to drive the car’s wheels. Some electric automobiles have motor generators that can regenerate as well as operate the vehicle.
What fluids does an electric vehicle need?
Even though an electric vehicle requires less maintenance, that does not imply you should forget about caring for it. Remember that there is no such thing as a maintenance-free vehicle. Even if you never require an EV oil change, you should check the following fluids in your EV on a regular basis:
Coolant
Electric vehicles, like gasoline-powered vehicles, face a significant amount of heat. Coolant is required to regulate the heat generated by your electric car’s lithium-ion battery. This is one area where the method for an electric vehicle and a combustion-engine vehicle is identical.
You should check the coolant level in your car’s battery, power inverter, and cabin heater. Although the cabin heater isn’t critical, the other two components are.
If you’ve ever heard of an electric car catching fire, it was almost certainly due to an overheated battery. As a result, keep the coolant levels high to avoid the battery exploding.
Brake Fluid
Due to the regenerative braking mechanism on electric vehicles, brake pads on electric vehicles rarely need to be replaced. By converting the kinetic energy of a moving vehicle into electric energy for the battery, the system lowers brake wear.
Transmission Fluid
An electronic vehicle’s multi-speed or direct-drive gearbox might require fluid changes during the duration of ownership. It’s vital to read your owner’s manual to determine the recommended service interval for your specific electric vehicle.
Maintaining an electric vehicle in the long run
How long do you think you’d keep a traditional car? Is it really three years? How about five years? Ten? You generally don’t intend to own a car for 10 years, and if you did, you should anticipate some significant maintenance requirements. With an EV, this is where things may get pricey.
A substantial coolant service is required every seven years. All of the car’s coolant lines must be drained, cleaned, and refilled. The car’s power-transfer circuitry will need to be checked, and some electrical components linked to the battery, inverter, and electric motor may need to be replaced. These are significant services.
Perhaps most concerning is the fact that your EV’s battery may need to be replaced after twelve years of constant use. An Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) car may require an engine transplant in the future, although with careful maintenance, an ICE engine can last up to thirty years. With a little luck, a well-maintained ICE engine can go for 300,000 miles, if not more.
Electric vehicles, according to experts, will be able to go 300,000 miles on average in the next several years. The battery would be reduced to around 70% of its original performance at this point in the car’s life, a level that experts believe would upset drivers enough to deem the battery dead.
What is the price of a new one? Installed costs range from $1000 to $6000. That’s roughly equivalent to a normal car’s ICE engine being replaced.
Will getting an electric vehicle save me money?
It is entirely possible to save money by investing in an electric vehicle, but this will depend on the type of conventional vehicle from which you are transitioning.
A Honda Fit, for example, is less expensive to buy and possibly less expensive to own than a Tesla or an equivalent luxury electric car. If you’re coming from a feature-packed luxury automobile like a BMW or Mercedes, though, an EV may be a more cost-effective option.
It could be the ideal automobile for you if you live somewhere with easy access to chargers and are aware of the repercussions of not being able to find a charging station if you need to drive beyond the car’s 300-mile range.
Just make sure you replace it roughly seven years after you bought it with a new one. Allow someone else to handle the new battery business, or the math may no longer work in your favor.
