Nikki Winkel
When considering switching to an electric ATV the primary discussion of cost you hear about is the cost reduction of switching from buying gas to charging your vehicle. This of course plays a huge part of why electric vehicles are more cost effective in the long run. However, maintenance is an important cost to consider when figuring out long term costs of a vehicle.
Once again, electric vehicles pose the advantage here. In general, electric vehicles have significantly fewer parts. Consider all of the moving parts of an engine and the systems that feed into the engine. Replacing this entire system with a motor and battery cuts down complexity and in turn, maintenance work and costs.
Something most people question about electric vehicles is the costs of a battery and if it goes bad, gets damaged, or simply runs out of life. First, unless you want backup batteries to extend range, it is unlikely that you’ll ever need to replace your battery within the life of your DRR USA vehicles. Secondly, if you did need to replace batteries, lithium-ion batteries can be recycled, so turning in your old battery is an easy way to cut this cost. And finally, the cost of the lithium-ion batteries is much smaller than the cost of replacing an engine. To learn more about DRR USAs electric all-terrain vehicles, visit https://www.drrusa.com/adult-electric-atvs-utvs-motorcycles.
For electric vehicles, the motors, have been tested to 10,000 km which is the required length of time by the Environmental Protection Agency. A battery is good for 50 miles on a full charge with the EV Adventure model. You will get roughly 4200 recharges without degradation of the battery, which is 250,000 miles, an incredibly significant life for an ATV.
The maintenance over the life of a gas ATV includes changing oil, replacing filters, maintaining coolant levels and many other pieces and parts that need replaced, managed, and maintained throughout the vehicle’s life. Regardless of if you can do this maintenance yourself or if you take it to a business, the costs still add up. Another thing to think about, if you’re bringing your gas ATV to a dealership for repairs more often than an electric ATV, the time it takes you to bring your vehicle in also costly, when you could be doing something else. Even worse, if you don’t have the capability to bring it in yourself, the costs accumulate over time.
The all-in average cost of running a gas ATV is $5.38 an hour, $2 of that cost is from the gas used. F&G farms calculated that for them it costs $5800 to maintain an ATV on average if you only put on 1800 miles over ten years. They have a total of 80 units they maintain to peak performance for tours and the annual cost of all of those vehicles is approximately $280,000.
Another variable that can affect your maintenance costs is the quality of gasoline where you live. Poor quality gas can cause issues with your carburetor over time, being another issue that is completely avoided with an electric vehicle. In some countries where the gas quality is bad, it increases the cost of running a gas ATV up to $10 an hour. The increased maintenance from bad gas nearly doubles the cost to run a gas ATV.
Beyond maintenance, the cost it takes to run your ATV varies from gas to electric. The cost of charging a lithium-ion battery is significantly less than buying a tank of gas. Charging a battery with a traditional charger takes about the same amount of energy of running an air conditioner for six hours. If you’re using your EV frequently, you’ll see an increase in your monthly electric bill of roughly $20, which is significantly less than the cost of gas it would take to run an ATV the same amount.
For other articles and information on DRR USA’s electric ATV’s visit: https://www.drrusa.com/adult-electric-atvs
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