I already explained in another post how I had to $600 for a battery replacement in my HHR. That is important, you know. Repair on gas powered cars is getting expensive. Right now, the HHR another $3000 on other things I am having to put off.

The thing is, nowadays, you cannot drive a car into a garage without paying out $1200 or more for the simplest repairs. To be honest, some of these repairs are are shared with EVs such as brakes, struts and steering. However, my EV does not need oil changes, transmission maintenance and such. The electric motor very likely will outlast me and possibly the car.

As with everything else on the car, the one weak point is batteries. They last anywhere from 7 to 15 years I’m told, quite likely longer than me. Their replacement is expensive, about 1/3 the price of the car. However, their price is going down while the cost of gas car maintenance is going up.

Nonetheless, consider, 7 or 8 trips to the shop for the repair on the gas car would likely cost 10 or 11 thousand dollars. That would take a big chunk out of the cost of the batteries of an EV. Moreover, there is a possibility of recovering core cost on the EV’s batteries. First, they will likely still be usable for things other than cars for years. Second, they just might be able to recover some of the elements out of the batteries and use them for new batteries.

Finally, they are making improvements on batteries all the time. The new batteries might be good for 20 years instead of 7 to 15. Moreover, they just might be able to store more power, increasing the range of the car. Perhaps if I live that long, I will be replacing the current batteries with batteries able to go 20% or 30% farther. On the other hand, who knows, they might have a big breakthrough that will allow the car to go 7 or 8 hundred miles on a charge.

As near as I can tell, with warrantee and all, I don’t think I will pay any maintenance on the Ariya for at least 7 years, other than for tires.

However, with all the good does come a little bad sneaking in the back door. My car is rated at 218 miles, or there about. If the car is fully charged, I can easily see that happening. With the energy recovering capability, on the open road, it will get right around 4 miles/Kwh. This, of course will very, depending on weather. If it is hot or cold, I need some of the power to keep the cabin comfortable. Also, ambient temperature can effect the operation of the batteries.

Also, fully charging the batteries reduces the life of the batteries. It is suggested that if you have an EV, don’t charge them over 80% unless you need the range. On the other side, letting them get below 10% is a gamble. If you don’t get to a charge station before the battery runs down, you’re stranded. Worse, you will not be able to solve the problem with a gas can.

At best, you make sure you get out of traffic and somewhere safe. Then you call for a tow. I had actually joked about getting me a truck and put a level 3 charger on the back of it. I could hook it up to a stranded EV and have a 20% charge on it in minutes. That might be enough to get the car to a normal charge station. (wonder if a bank would give me a loan on that premise) Meanwhile, I could make my way to the next stranded EV.

The point is this. If you only charge the car to 80% and recharge it at 10%, you are operating the car within a 70% margin on the batteries. In the case of my car, it means I have an effective range, or what some call a net range of of 218 – 60 miles or around 150 miles. In my case, I cheat. I charge my car to 90%. Then, I start getting anxious at 30% and put the charger on it. I have this phobia of being in one of those stranded an EV. Still, because I don’t go but a few miles a day, it means a recharge about every 5 or 6 days. Not an inconvenience; but still, I wished I had gotten the model with the 300+ mile range.

Not that it is so important, but the type of electric motor that Nissan uses will likely still be running after the rest of the car is a pile of rust. It is entirely probable that it will be in its 3rd life doing something long after the car is gone.