I’m trying to make sense of the ownership costs for this car compared to traditional trucks. It seems like lower maintenance costs could swing my decision. However, I saw on Edmunds that they estimate almost 6k in maintenance and repairs over 5 years. What are they basing that on? Does anyone have real-world maintenance experiences after hitting around 50k miles? I’d think it would just be tires.
Where are they getting those figures from? I take my truck in every 6 months or 10k miles for a multi-point inspection, and it’s only cost me about $100 in the first 20k miles. Sure, I did buy snow tires for around $1500, but does that count? I can’t see how you’d hit $6k in 50k miles.
@Elowen
Definitely wouldn’t count snow tires but regular ones, sure. Their numbers seem unrealistic. Maybe they’re comparing it to ICE F-150s and just reducing that for EVs, but it seems unfounded.
I’m about to buy new tires for around $1200 and I’ve got about 49k miles now. Besides that, I changed the windshield wipers and added washer fluid. I do my own tire rotations so that saves me cash. Seems like Edmunds is just guessing based on ICE maintenance which isn’t really applicable here.
@Tavi
Not sure why they’re guessing. The ownership manual shows what maintenance is needed. The Lightning has virtually no maintenance listed. ICE vehicles have way more through 100k miles, especially as the mileage goes up.
@Tavi
Yeah, that sounds like what they’re doing. The estimated maintenance for a regular ICE F-150 is about the same. Even so, I’d be pretty upset if I spent $6k on maintenance and repairs for a brand new ICE car. That feels so inflated.
@Arden
Agreed, $6k seems way too high for 50k miles on a new ICE vehicle. Maybe that’s if you always take it to the dealer for service. They can rack up the costs quickly.
@Tavi
I’m close to 50k too. Despite going to the dealer every 10k miles and adding wipers and fluid, I’ve only spent a few hundred dollars. Snow tires were $1200, but my total hasn’t reached $2000.
What? $6k? I’ve had my Lightning for 23 months and I’ve driven over 20,000 miles. My only costs have been for rotating tires and replacing wipers, and the wipers were just optional. Maybe I’ll have a $5900 surprise in the next 4 years, but I doubt it. Are they counting charging costs? Even then, my charging is less than 30% of gas costs.
@Heath
You haven’t changed your cabin filters! That can add nearly $30 to your costs.
Charlie said:
@Heath
You haven’t changed your cabin filters! That can add nearly $30 to your costs.
Oh man! I forgot about those! So my actual costs are more like $130 over two years, not $100.
@Heath
“EV maintenance 30% higher than previously reported.”
@Heath
Completely undriveable.
@Heath
They aren’t counting charging; they think charging will amount to about $12k over five years, which also seems too high, especially since they’re estimating it at 15k miles per year.
Arden said:
@Heath
They aren’t counting charging; they think charging will amount to about $12k over five years, which also seems too high, especially since they’re estimating it at 15k miles per year.
I might pay that much for charging if I’m driving 25-28k miles. I feel confident that the technology will hold up well. I’d be shocked if I had to face any major maintenance in the first 50k.
I pay Ford $27 every 10k miles for tire rotations and inspections.
Remy said:
I pay Ford $27 every 10k miles for tire rotations and inspections.
That’s pretty cheap, plus they handle recalls at the same time. I had a recall for the front trunk not closing properly sometimes.
How do they even come up with $6,000? I’m assuming that includes oil changes!
Like you mentioned, I don’t trust most outlets when it comes to EV data. They overlook essential aspects of driving, charging, and ownership, focusing only on battery specs, range, and charging speed. Just look at Consumer Reports, they provide weird reliability scores based on surveys and past manufacturer performance. They listed Rivian as making some of the worst vehicles.
I’ve owned mine for about a year with around 13k miles. I let the dealer rotate my tires during my 10k mile inspection for $35. I also bought some nicer windshield wipers. My total maintenance cost so far is about $60. At this rate, I’d really have to try to hit $1000 over the next 4 years.