Electric vehicle SMR costs almost half that of ICE by year three

Savings on service, maintenance and repair (SMR) costs for electric vehicles (EVs), compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, are revealed in new real-world data from Epyx.

It shows advantages in both the amount spent on SMR and the number of garage visits for EVs compared to ICE cars and, to a lesser extent, for hybrids.

At the end of the first year of operation, the average SMR spend for an EV was £141 compared to £195 for hybrids and £199 for ICE.

By year two, the Epyx data shows it was £174 for an EV, £266 for hybrids and £290 for ICE, with the gap widening even further in year three.

The comparable SMR costs for an ICE car were 81% higher at £401 than the £221 reported for an EV in year three, and £341 for hybrids.  

In terms of garage visits, the average for EVs was 1.13 at the end of year one compared to 1.17 for hybrids and 1.21 for ICE.

By year two, the comparative figures were 1.18 for EV, 1.29 for hybrid and 1.31 for ICE.

At the end of year three, the figures were 1.36 for EV against 1.53 for hybrid and also 1.53 for ICE.

It is worth noting, however, that the average mileage for each fuel type within Epyx’s data differ, with hybrids the highest at 38,626 miles over three years, EVs at 31,805 and ICE at 31,770.

Tim Meadows, chief operating officer at Epyx, said: “We’ve previously released SMR data about EVs and it was quite inconclusive, largely because the number on our database was still very low and not really sufficient to build up a consistent picture.

“However, we now have something like 409,560 EVs on the platform, which provides a much-improved impression.”

The data – covering vehicles up to 3.5 years old – is taken from Epyx’s 1link Service Network, used by fleets totalling more than four million cars, vans and trucks to manage their service, maintenance and repair processes, working with thousands of franchise dealers, independent garages and fast fits.

Meadows continued: “We are seeing is both noticeably lower running costs and numbers of garage visits for EVs compared to both hybrids and ICE vehicles.

“By the end of year three, these are quite substantial – the EV SMR spend is not much more than half seen for ICE.”

For some time, everyone from manufacturers to fleet managers have predicted that EVs will enjoy substantially lower running costs than ICE vehicles, because of the reduced number of moving parts and general wear that is inherent in the technology.

“It’s possible, even probable, that these real-world figures are starting to show this expectation become reality,” added Meadows.

“However, when it comes to comparisons to hybrids, the picture is less clear thanks to the much higher mileage in our sample.

“The additional average 7,000 or so miles covered by the hybrids in our sample could easily account for the differences in SMR cost and garage visits compared to EV, needing items such as additional tyres or brake pads.”

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