Hybrid & Electric Car Servicing

Yes. An electric car absolutely makes financial sense. A typical full charge at a motorway service station will cost in the region of £6.50 and give you approximately 100 miles of range, while £6.50 worth of charge at home will give you around 200 miles of range! By contrast, a typical petrol car filled up with £6.50 worth of fuel would struggle to do 50 miles!

What’s more, because an electric car has fewer moving parts, servicing costs on an electric vehicle are far lower than a petrol or diesel car. The major service on a Nissan Leaf, for example, consists of replacing the pollen filter – that’s it!

Ranges for electric cars vary depending on make and model, with the first generation of electric vehicles typically capable of 100 miles of range on a charge. The latest generation of new electric cars have increased ranges, of typically between 250 and 300 miles.

You can re-charge your electric vehicle much in the same way as you would a petrol or diesel car, by visiting charging points as your range decreases. However, given that you can have a charge point installed at your home for around £150, the easiest and cheapest option is to put it on charge overnight or whenever you aren’t using your electric vehicle.

Here at Oak Tree Garage we have our own electric vehicle charging point, which you are welcome to use at any time. Otherwise, to find your nearest charging point, including their charging speed and current availability, please consult the interactive map of UK charging points below.

As with an electric car’s range, the lifespan of the battery will vary depending on the make and model. However, the new types of battery configurations being introduced by manufacturers means that most are now offering between an 8 and 10 year warranty on their electric vehicles’ batteries.

It is important to remember that the battery of an electric car does not simply fail, it merely loses some of it’s original range. Recent statistics from Renault, Nissan and Tesla have indicated that even after 300,000 miles an electric car’s battery still retains about 70 percent of its original range.

The average electric car driver is unlikely to cover enough miles between charges to be concerned about running out of battery, particularly given that there are over 42,000 charging points in the UK, nearly 4,000 of which are ‘rapid chargers’ (please see map below for more information).

However, if your electric vehicle does run out of battery, most recovery services will treat this as a breakdown, meaning they’ll probably take you to your nearest charging point.