Nearly Zero Maintenance

It's definitely not always the first question that I get, but once the conversation gets more serious, the EV-curious will always ask about maintenance.  To which I will have to consistently repeat myself, that there is nearly zero maintenance. The most amicable manner of looking at the Smart ED, is that if you lease it for three years, there will be no maintenance.

Parts

Most people balk at this statement, and then they press me for more information. They say things like, what about the tires or the brakes?  If you were fortunate to get long-lasting tires, then you will likely see 50,000 miles before you need to replace them.  Brakes on an ICE are a bit different than an EV.  Unless you're the type to brake long before you need to stop, you're probably burning the brakes at a normal rate.  EVs use regenerative braking and so their brakes tend to last quite a bit longer.  I've managed to get to 1 mph crawl, without touching my brakes and without seriously annoying the vehicles behind me.

There is no oil to change, there is no transmission fluid, there is no radiator fluid, there are no belts, no alternator, no starter motor, no exhaust manifold, no filters, no fuel pump, oil pump, or water pump.  There is a motor, a controller, and batteries.  The simplicity is superb and ideal for a society keen on making things easier for themselves.

Costs

If you have experience with owning cars, you're probably well aware that it's far more then the sticker price, whether used or new. Edmunds.com has a system call the True Cost to Own that identifies the cost of a vehicle over the initial 5 years of its life.  Typically for an ICE vehicle the cost of ownership is roughly twice the price in that time. Electric vehicles are still pretty expensive to purchase, even after the rebates and tax incentives, and bring the initial cost up.  But if an EV were priced similar to an ICE vehicle of similar size, the True Cost to Own is much less.

Just imagine that when you buy your next vehicle, that the additional costs of maintenance and fuel is almost negligible, compared to the price of the vehicle.  Based on information gained directly from Edmunds.com here's the cost differences.

Price of Toyota Rav4 2014:      $26k,
TCO over 5 years:                    $44k
Percent of price in Maintenance: 70%  ~~ $18k

Price of Nissan Leaf 2014:         $31k,
TCO over 5 years:                     $36k
Percent of price in Maintenance: 20%  ~~ $6k
(info based on ave of 15k miles / year)

Edmunds doesn't have a comparison for the Smart ED, but based on the numbers above here's what it might be.

Price of Smart ForTwo ICE 2014: $14k
TCO over 5 years:                          $24k
Percent of price in Maintenance: 70% ~~ $10k

Price of Smart ForTwo ED 2014: $20k
TCO over 5 years:                          $24k
Percent of price in Maintenance: 20% ~~ $4k

Look at that, the price is the same.  Makes you wonder which car you might get, eh?  Granted after all the incentives available for the Smart ForTwo ED, the price comes down a great deal.  It could be as little as $11k and the the total would only be $15k.

Conclusion

The incentives for electric cars may not always be around, but the cost the own them will only get better.  It's not that hard to imagine that once the range and refueling times have changed for the better, that it will be a no-brainer to decide on an electric car.  Until then, I'll still be driving electric.