EV vs. Gas Car Maintenance: What the Cost Data Actually Shows

Drivers comparing an electric vehicle (EV) to a gasoline car often ask the same question: will it cost less to keep running? Three independent studies — from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Consumer Reports, and AAA — point in the same direction: EVs are cheaper to maintain on average, mainly because they have far fewer moving parts. The size of the savings, and the exceptions, differ by study.

What the official data says

A 2021 DOE Vehicle Technologies Office analysis, based on a cost-of-ownership study by Argonne National Laboratory researcher Andrew Burnham and colleagues, put scheduled maintenance for a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) at 6.1 cents per mile, versus 10.1 cents per mile for a conventional gasoline vehicle (ICEV). The DOE attributes the gap to the BEV's lack of engine oil, a timing belt, an oxygen sensor and spark plugs — components that gasoline engines require but electric motors do not have.

Consumer Reports reached a similar conclusion using real-world repair and maintenance bills reported by thousands of its members. The organization calculated a lifetime maintenance and repair cost of $4,600 (3.1 cents per mile) for battery-electric vehicles, against $9,200 (6.1 cents per mile) for gasoline vehicles over a vehicle's lifetime. Consumer Reports estimated that owning an EV instead of a comparable gas car could save a typical driver $6,000 to $10,000 over the life of the vehicle, counting fuel, maintenance and other ownership costs together, not maintenance alone.

Where AAA's numbers differ

AAA's 2025 "Your Driving Costs" study, released in September 2025, also found EVs had the lowest maintenance-and-repair costs of any powertrain type it tracked, ahead of hybrids and gasoline vehicles. But AAA found a twist: once depreciation and higher financing costs are factored in, the average total operating cost for an EV reached 71 cents per mile, driven largely by depreciation that outpaced gasoline models. AAA also noted that EV charging costs rose from 15.9 to 16.7 cents per kilowatt-hour between its 2024 and 2025 studies, even as overall new-vehicle ownership costs fell by $719 a year to $11,577.

Why EVs need less routine service

The DOE and Consumer Reports both point to the same mechanical explanation: electric motors have far fewer components than a gasoline engine, so EV owners skip oil changes, transmission fluid service, spark plug replacement, exhaust and muffler repairs, and timing-belt changes, according to the DOE's analysis.

Where EVs can cost more

The comparison is not one-sided. A risk beyond routine maintenance is the traction battery itself: an out-of-warranty replacement can be a large expense, though real-world figures for this remain limited in the sources reviewed here. None of the three studies found evidence that routine EV maintenance costs, on average, exceed those of a comparable gasoline car.

What this means for buyers

For drivers focused specifically on maintenance and repair bills, the DOE, Consumer Reports and AAA data all agree that EVs come out ahead, largely because they avoid engine-specific services altogether. Buyers should still check what battery warranty coverage a specific model offers, since an out-of-warranty battery replacement is the largest potential expense a gasoline car simply does not have.