As most consumers are aware, EVs are essentially far simpler machines than your traditional ICE cars, with far fewer movable parts and serviceable components. This not only makes them more reliable, it also means that their servicing requirement is greatly reduced.
A typical annual EV service is like half a traditional ICE cars service, requiring basically a series of checks, and a pollen filter change (which has absolutely no impact on the EVs performance and longevity, and you could certainly argue is not really necessary on an annual basis.) Most of the critical checks are actually also done on your annual MOT.
Every 2 years it is worth adding to this additional brake system checks and lubrication, and at much longer intervals (typically 60k miles) it can be worth changing the coolant liquid. But generally that is it. It is a fraction of what you need to do to maintain a combustion engine system, and the critical components such as the motor, battery and charging system have no serviceable parts at all.
So would you be right in thinking our advice is not to bother servicing your EV? No – whilst your EV will perform happily for years without ever having a service (for example most Teslas won’t require any servicing for 8 years or more), whilst having just its MOT checks, our advice is if you are planning to sell your EV in the future is to follow the manufacturers servicing guideline for your EV.
For some (BMW and VW for example) they ask for a service every 2 years, and others like Tesla, servicing is only required when asked for by the car and typically not before 8 years or 100k miles. The majority however are still asking for an annual service, but knowing what is involved and required in EV servicing, this is just a revenue-generating scheme by the manufacturers to support their dealer network. Due to the greater reliability of EVs and the resulting reduction of service department revenues, servicing, and often highly overpriced servicing, is being used to help make up for dealership’s lost revenues as we all move across into EVs.
The reason we always advise customers to try and maintain their EVs manufacturer’s service schedule, is that we are increasingly seeing how much it bothers the new swathe of EV buyers, who still have their mindset stuck in ICE car ownership and rules/traditions.
Although there is a very strong case for it being completely unnecessary, this sadly means that presently to maintain the maximum value of your EV if you wanted to sell it in the near future, having a full-service history is still viewed as important to many buyers. Is it important to service your EV – no. Is it advisable to do for the time being – yes, at least until consumer education grows and they realise, like Tesla, routine regular servicing is largely unnecessary.
How would you like to talk to us?
Other useful links
