Electric/Hybrid Maintenance

How to maintain your electric and hybrid vehicle

As a responsible car owner, it’s important to know the ins and outs of your vehicle and what is needed to keep it in good working order. The good news is, in many ways, electric vehicles and hybrids are often easier to maintain as they have fewer moving parts and less fluid than a traditional vehicle. That said, there are certain things you need to keep in mind.

Necessary maintenance

Regular diesel and petrol vehicles have many individual components that need regular inspection, from the fuel pumps and spark plugs to the cooling system. In contrast, electric vehicles have three main elements: the electric car engine, the inverter and the on-board charger where maintenance is required. Hybrids benefit from part of the EV infrastructure which also makes maintenance simpler. With less parts to check, maintenance costs tend to be much lower, which is good news for anyone looking to go down the EV route.

Note: Just like a regular car, your EV will need an MOT once a year after it turns three years old.

Checking the brake pads

Maintaining the brake pads is an important part of being an EV or hybrid driver. However, this is usually much easier to do thanks to regenerative braking. Regenerative braking uses energy that would otherwise be wasted to charge the battery. The system is smooth, sophisticated and advanced, but still needs to be maintained.

Checking the windscreen wipers

The windscreen wipers of an electric or hybrid vehicle are the same as those used for other vehicles and therefore need to be maintained the same way. If your windscreen becomes smeary when the wipers are on, this is a clue they’re not working properly and need to be replaced. As a rule, try to replace your windscreen wipers twice a year.

Keep an eye on the fluids

Electric vehicles have three main fluids that you’ll need to keep an eye on: coolant fluid, brake fluid and windshield washer fluid. Some also require transmission fluid that needs to be changed regularly.

The battery