Maintenance Recommendations Electric Vehicles
The era of electric cars appears to be upon us. Although there is no shortage of people who understand how traditional internal combustion cars should be maintained, until now the maintenance recommendations for electric vehicles has been an area of specialized knowledge.
For a pure electric car, such as the Nissan Leaf, many of the traditional car maintenance intervals become obsolete. There is no engine oil to change, nor oil filters, air filters, or gasoline filters. Nevertheless, there are a number of maintenance checks applicable to all vehicles that will still apply to a pure electric car. For example, the cars still have tires, brakes, transmissions, suspensions, steering systems, and electrical systems. For tires, follow manufacturers’ recommendations for tire rotation and balancing. In the absence of guidance, tire rotation every 5,000 to 15,000 miles should be adequate. Normal brake inspections are necessary, and when brake pads are 90% worn out it is time to replace them. Transmission fluid still needs to be monitored to ensure the level remains adequate and that the fluid has not become contaminated by dirt or burnt due to high operating temperatures. All exterior lights need to be checked, and the level of the power steering fluid should be checked every few thousand miles to ensure it is adequate.
For a pure electric car, the biggest challenge for maintenance might be to remember to do it at all. Many of us use our normal 5,000 mile oil change as the opportunity to check all of these other maintenance issues. But without an oil change, owners will need to be more diligent in tracking maintenance of these other systems.
However, some electric cars are also internal combustion cars. The Chevrolet Volt will contain both an electric drive and a parallel internal combustion engine. Unlike hybrid cars, which use the gas engine to drive the powertrain, the Volt will use the engine only to recharge the electric motor. The significance for a consumer is that a Volt will still require the same types of maintenance as a traditional car, in addition to the maintenance that all cars require. You will need to change the oil and oil filter (although likely at longer intervals than normal internal combustion engines) as well as the air filter.
Finally, there are two areas where electric cars require new maintenance checks that other cars so not. Electric motors use brushes to transmit electricity into the rotation of the drive shaft. The motor brushes will require periodic replacement, and based on previous limited production electric powered cars you can expect to replace those brushes about every 80,000 miles. In addition, electric cars will require new and high technology batteries. Unlike your typical car battery, designed to provide heavy cranking power only once each operating cycle of the car, new batteries will require consistent power delivery and will likely be used throughout their full range of charge. Electric car batteries will likely be tracked in terms of full charge/discharge cycles, and will likely include a battery condition analyzer to track the capacity of the battery and recommend replacement when it is nearing the end of its life.
Service and maintenance recommendations for electric cars are not entirely different from internal combustion cars, and with a bit of adjustment to your maintenance habits the new maintenance tempo will become as natural as our current 5,000 mile oil change habits.
