Wheel bearing, steering parts, possibly physical brakes, door handles, pivot points for doors, wiper blades. No oil changes, tuneups or smog tests. Never visit a gas station. Recalls are over the air. How much is your time worth?
Think about what makes torque. An EV battery has torque expressed by an electric motor which is a transmission of many speeds to a single gear ratio. ICE produces torque in a limited rpm range, thus needing a multigear transmission. That is why I think off a battery as the engine and an electric motor as a transmission that efficiency changes speed, unlike a torque converter which is comparably inefficient.
So, we are pretending that an EV only has a battery, sheet-metal, and tires. No, that's not the case. Even an EV is going to have parts that wear out. And with no scheduled maintenance, good luck keeping an EV for 20 years of normal driving without getting hit by a bill so huge that the word "Obscene" would be completely appropriate.
My time is worth a great deal. I spent four months doing
nothing to my car other than gassing her up before that unexpected 9 hour visit last Wednesday. Coming away with a $373
.oo bill for replacement of the purge valve, State Emissions test, and new brake-light bulb. Spend four months of care-free driving. Get inconvenienced for one day, with a very reasonable repair bill. Honestly, that is a whole hell of a lot better than living with an EV that needs a new battery.
Or, are you really saying that getting hit with a replacement battery bill of anywhere from $12,000
.oo for a Tesla (looked it up on my own, no clue where you got only $5,500
.oo from but that's still a ridiculous out-of-pocket expense for an EV owner) to $60,000
.oo for one on a KIA/Hyundai EV.... are you really saying that's far better than going in for routine scheduled maintenance? I'm not normally a betting man, but I'll wager my entire Life savings that no one would agree with you there.
Will admit, no EV owner is going to spend any amount of time (much less 9 hours) trying to raise the funds to cover that expense. So, you've got me there. That's one for you. Though that owner will be spending at least a couple of hours at a "Pre-owned" car lot negotiating for a good used ICE vehicle after he's forced to sign over the pink-slip on his EV since he obviously can't afford that repair bill. Or perhaps replacement bill for the battery is the correct term.
Yes, ICE vehicles have numerous little items on them that over the years might need repair or even replacement. No doubt there. No arguments from me on that issue that you brought up. And yes, going in to have your ICE vehicle serviced can be an all day thing. A very frustrating one for sure.... But my God! Doing
that sure as hell is a much better experience than being handed a bill for $12K
-$60K to replace a battery once every few years!! Are you kidding? Are you joking around? At the end of those 9 hours last Wednesday, I paid the man, got in my car with the very comfy driver's seat, drove to my favorite pizza place, then drove home, parked in my designated spot, went upstairs and enjoyed some sweet delicious New York pizza.
Here's what I didn't do.... I didn't sign over my EV to the man who owns the gas-station/garage and then sheepishly ask him to please call me a cab so I could go straight home, and then agonize over my decision for having bought the wrong type of vehicle because I don't have more money than my car is worth; for a replacement battery. That's what I didn't do. Yeah, no scheduled maintenance for a handful of years straight. Instead of only a handful of months. Tell me again how that's a
good thing.
Edit:
Typo.