Best Electric Car 2021: Ownership costs

Electric cars have much the same overall vehicle warranty cover as other new vehicles, but all add separate – and typically longer – aftersales provisions specifically for the battery, providing extra peace of mind for owners.

Despite the ramp up in warranty provisions across the car industry as a whole, not all models lining up for carsales’ Best Electric Car 2021 are covered by what is now often considered the minimum industry benchmark of five years.

The MINI Cooper SE Yours is backed only by three-year/unlimited-kilometre coverage for the vehicle overall, although the battery is warranted for eight years/100,000km.

The Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus also has a shorter warranty, at four years/80,000km. However, the Tesla’s battery is covered for eight years/160,000km.

The Kia Niro EV Sport and MG ZS EV are both covered for seven years/unlimited kilometres.

While the Kia’s battery is also covered for seven years, it has a 150,000km restriction on kilometres travelled over that period. The MG, on the other hand, has no such limit.

The Mazda MX-30 Electric matches Tesla and MINI in covering the battery pack for eight years, but provides the added incentive of unlimited kilometres. The overall vehicle warranty for the Mazda stands at five years/unlimited-km.

The Hyundai IONIQ Electric and Kona Electric, and the Nissan LEAF e+, similarly have a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and cover the battery pack for eight years, albeit with a 160,000km cap on distance travelled.

Despite not having all the service requirements of a combustion-engined vehicle, most EVs here have a familiar 12-month/15,000km service interval.

There are three exceptions: the MG ZS has two-year/20,000km intervals, while the Tesla Model 3 and MINI Cooper schedules are not quite as easily defined.

Being the disruptor in the car industry that it is, Tesla does not give an obvious, cut-and-dried service schedule for the Model 3. Tesla claims that 80 per cent of servicing can be done with its free mobile service. On top of that, the US car-maker claims 90 per cent of diagnostics can be done over the air.

However, the owner’s manual for the Model 3 advises that items such as brake fluid should be inspected for contamination every two years and replaced if required. The cabin filter should be replaced every two years, while a new air-conditioning desiccant bag should be fitted every six years.

The MINI Cooper follows parent company BMW’s condition-based servicing (CBS) method. This relies on sensors within the car that alert the driver when a service should be undertaken.

Capped-price servicing (CPS) is offered for all but the MINI Cooper, which offers a pre-paid servicing plan only, and the Tesla Model 3, which has no clear-cut CPS program.

Prices noted in the specs below for the Model 3 are standard fees for set operations (in our example, two biennial brake fluid changes and pollen filter changes).

Of the remaining vehicles, the cheapest CPS offer is for the Hyundai IONIQ, which is $160 per year, while the Kia Niro is the most expensive at an average of $345 a year.

Pre-paid service plans for three, four or five years are available for the two Hyundais and the Kia, while the MINI has just one – a five-year/80,000km pre-paid plan that offers up to five services during that period.

Authorised services can only be undertaken at one of 32 Hyundai Blue Drive dealers nationally for the Hyundai IONIQ and Kona. All other EVs here can be serviced by any respective authorised dealer, except the MINI, which can be serviced at 20 select MINI dealers and 19 BMW dealers.

Free roadside assist is offered for the entire warranty period for the Mazda MX-30 (five years), MG ZS (seven years), MINI Cooper (three years), Nissan LEAF (five years) and Tesla Model 3 (four years).

The two Hyundais and the Kia provide one year of roadside assist for free, giving an additional year bundled with each authorised service.

Tyre replacement costs are not unusually high for any of these EVs; it’ll cost about $600 to $800 for a set of four tyres for the Hyundais, the Kia and the MG, while the rest will be as high as $1000 to $1200 a set.

The largest cost of new vehicle ownership is depreciation. We were unable to obtain values from the specialists at RedBook.com.au for the Kia Niro, Mazda MX-30 or MINI Cooper because these EVs are simply too new on the market for their used values to bed in.

But given the importance of resale values, we have produced an averaged resale value figure (based on the five other EVs with established resale values). This results in a loss of 18 per cent value in one year for each of these three.

The Hyundai Kona has the best resale value, only losing 11 per cent in the first year, while the largest fall in value goes to the MG ZS with a staggering 26 per cent loss in value in just 12 months.

Hyundai IONIQ Electric Premium
Warranty years/km: 5 years/unlimited
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Service intervals months/km: 12 months/15,000km
Average annual cost for first 5 services: $160
Dealer service network: 32
Roadside assist period/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Hyundai Kona Electric Extended Range Highlander
Warranty years/km: 5 years/unlimited
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Service intervals months/km: 12 months/15,000km
Average annual cost for first 5 services: $289
Dealer service network: 32
Roadside assist period/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Kia Niro EV Sport
Warranty years/km: 7 years/unlimited
Battery warranty: 7 years/150,000km
Service intervals months/km: 12 months/15,000km
Average annual cost for first 5 services: $345
Dealer service network: 138
Roadside assist period/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Mazda MX-30 Electric Astina
Warranty years/km: 5 years/unlimited
Battery warranty: 8 years/unlimited
Service intervals months/km: 12 months/15,000km
Average annual cost for first 5 services: $255
Dealer service network: 134
Roadside assist period/linked to servicing: 5 years free/No

MG ZS EV
Warranty years/km: 7 years/unlimited
Battery warranty: 7 years/unlimited
Service intervals months/km: 24 months/20,000km
Average annual cost for first 5 services: $268
Dealer service network: 73
Roadside assist period/linked to servicing: 7 years free/No

MINI Cooper SE Yours
Warranty years/km: 3 years/unlimited
Battery warranty: 8 years/100,000km
Service intervals months/km: Condition Based Servicing (CBS)*
Average annual cost for first 5 services: $180**
Dealer service network: 20
Roadside assist period/linked to servicing: 3 years free/No
*See text for explanation
** Pre-paid servicing available only

Nissan LEAF e+
Warranty years/km: 5 years/unlimited
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Service intervals months/km: 12 months/20,000km
Average annual cost for first 5 services: $294
Dealer service network: 92
Roadside assist period/linked to servicing: 5 years free/No

Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus
Warranty years/km: 4 years/80,000km
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Service intervals months/km: 24 months
Average annual cost for first 5 services: $167
Dealer service network: 9
Roadside assist period/linked to servicing: 4 years free/No

Best Electric Car 2021 RedBook Resale Value Table

*Prices exclude on-road costs except for the MG ZS EV (drive-away)