ELECTRIC CAR BATTERY REPLACEMENT COST PLUS

“I had done the sums and was thinking the cost of batteries would probably come down in price so if the battery wore out eventually it would be no problem.” He says that when he took the plunge, there was some chatter about the cost of replacement batteries with the figure being bandied about coming in at about €10,000. You have less metal rubbing up against metal, something which is never very good.” That’s huge, from an engineering point of view. “The average diesel car has something like 30,000 moving parts and an electric car has about 3,000 moving parts. Russell is also an engineer and the make-up of such vehicles appeals to him. He was prompted to buy it for environmental reasons and to save money on fuel and maintenance costs. “Until the Nissan Leaf I had never bought a new car, my life,” he says. Pricewatch took an interest in the debate – not least because the writer is a proud owner of a relatively new EV – so decided to make contact with the man who started the debate to find out more. “It has been obvious for some time that EVs ought to be regarded as more like domestic appliances than traditional cars – that is, used until they are defunct and then replaced, as with a fridge or cooker,” wrote one reader who said the idea of a replacement battery made no economic sense. The idea that someone might buy a new car only to be hit with such a shocking cost seven years down the road left some people flabbergasted and others unsurprised.

ELECTRIC CAR BATTERY REPLACEMENT COST PLUS

Nissan just quoted me for a replacement battery: €19,000, plus VAT, excluding labour! We are now reconsidering our position as EV champions!”

“Over those years, myself and my wife have become EV champions. “We have been driving a Nissan Leaf for the past seven years and have travelled a total distance of 155,000km,” he wrote. In the middle of last month an Irish Times reader called John Russell wrote a letter to the Editor which sparked something that veered between mild concern and outright consternation among many owners, would-be owners and never-will-be owners of electric vehicles.

Electric car battery replacement cost