When service costs are taken into account, Nexon EV running cost turns up to Rs. 1.58 to cover a km
We all know that Nexon EV has been a runaway success. This was the first electric SUV in India that offered a decent balance between range, performance and price. Nexon’s 5-star crash safety rating doesn’t hurt either. It was based on an already well-received ICE product and hence familiarity was one of its strong points too.
Despite EV tech being new in India, it is growing at a decent pace. A Nexon EV owner, Manu M has shared a comprehensive breakup of expenses that he incurred to run his EV for 85K km. His views reflect ours when we made a comparison between EVs and petrol hatchbacks.
Nexon EV Running Cost Breakdown by Owner
84,995 km to be precise. That’s how much Manu M has covered in a span of two years of ownership. This averages to 114 km per day. When stabilizer losses are excluded, Manu M has consumed 11262.8 kWh of energy. Which gives us 132.51 Wh/km of energy consumption per km. Hence range covered with 1 kWh of charge is 7.55 km. Still not bad, we should say.
Excluding stabilizer losses, total cost incurred to charge his vehicle to cover 85K km is Rs. 95,681. Which yields a charging cost per km of just Rs. 1.13. Including stabilizer losses, we get more realistic numbers. He claims that he has consumed 10983.22 kWh of electricity to charge his EV to cover said 85K km. This figure includes slow chargers, also fast chargers and stabilizer losses as well.
The owner has taken Rs. 9.28 as the cost per kWh in Kerala. When calculated, he has spent Rs. 1,01,686 for charging the batteries to cover 85K km. Charging cost per km is Rs. 1.2 and energy consumption per kWh is 129.22 Wh/km. This gives us a range of 7.74 km per kWh of battery capacity.
Service Costs for EVs
Since there are significantly less moving parts, EVs require significantly less maintenance. Owner Manu M has provided valuable info regarding EV maintenance. He reports a total of Rs. 32,375 spent on maintaining the car. We say car, because like ICE vehicles there are few parts required to keep it running despite being an EV.
Manu M reports transaxle oil change after the first 7,000 km, which never recurs. He seems to have changed transmission oil every 30,000 km interval. Rest of the costs involve regular shenanigans like wheel alignment, wheel balancing, washing, brake fluid and so on. None of these are really expensive. Excluding optional services like foam washing, AC disinfectant and others, he reports a total cost of Rs. 28,976.
When servicing costs are taken into account along with charging costs, we land on a figure of Rs. 1.58 per km traveled. Which is really economical when compared to petrol or diesel-powered alternatives. Tiago EV, which was recently launched, is likely to make 4W EV more accessible to customers as it comes at a lower price point.
Source: Electric - rushlane.com
