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Highway robbery

EVs are the future of personal transport, that has become pretty obvious.

Everyone wants to enjoy the thrilling acceleration that all that torque delivers and being able to refuel from a simple charger in your own garage promises a simpler, cheaper life for all.

One of the real bonuses of having an EV however, should be the significantly reduced cost of regular servicing.

Your average EV has one or two motors and those motors have just one moving part (plus a few bearings). What could possibly go wrong?

Well unless you've got a Renault Zoe (which apparently chew through motor bearings at a frantic rate [interesting video]), your EV should be reliable and cheap to keep on the road.

Aside from the usual ongoing costs of tyres, windscreen wiper blades, brake pads and the occasional bottle of polish, an EV should be virtually trouble and cost-free throughout its useful life. That useful life is likely to be determined either by accident damage or a worn out battery rather than other forms of mechanical failure.

Although they tend to be heavier than their ICE peers, EVs are surprisingly easy on their brakes due to regenerative braking. This means that even things like brake pads tend to last a lot longer than on dino-juiced cars.

The elephant in the room with all this reduced need for maintenance is "how will dealers' service departments and independent repair shops make their money once the transition to EVs is complete?

A good old ICE requires that its engine oil be replaced at regular intervals so as to ensure engine longevity. We're all used to getting this done every 6 or 12 months and paying the costs of the oil, filter, washers, environmental fees, labour etc, etc.

For many small garages and dealer service departments, these regular services are their bread and butter. Without the revenue they generate it would be hard to stay in business at all.

So, what is the automotive service industry doing to prepare for the demise of the ICE? How will they survive when EVs don't require engine oil changes, only rarely need new brake pads and, thanks to their comparative simplicity, are unlikely to need repairs during their useful life?

Fear not... it seems that they have a plan!

This video from automotive YouTuber John Cadogan gives some insight into exactly how things are changing.

If John is to be believed, dealers may be simply coming up with outrageously over-priced work to perform on your vehicle at the prescribed service intervals. As he so succinctly points out, despite the lack of a complex gearbox, one dealer charged over $180 for what was almost certainly a couple of litres of simple gear oil and a similarly outrageous amount for some simple coolant.

Imagine that.. a $900 bill for a simple service on an EV!

I suspect this is the future and that the promised lower service costs associated with EVs will not be everything we were promised. Mostly, we'll be charged an arm and a leg for the dealer to reset the "service required" light and pretend to fill up the windscreen washer bottle (even though they don't).

And of course, nine times out of ten they'll have you over a barrel because if you want that 8-year/100,000Km battery warranty to be honoured then you'll need to have had all those expensive dealer services completed and paid for.

I'm really starting to appreciate the benefits of walking most places instead of driving!

Carpe Diem folks!

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