Toyota RAV4 Prime vs Tesla Model Y Maintenance Cost Analysis with Surprising Result

Описание: We contrast the difference in price to maintain a 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV and a Tesla Model Y BEV all-wheel-drive green crossover. The result surprised us. Reference https://www.torquenews.com/1083/toyot...

John Goreham of Torque News writes.

One big advantage of battery electric vehicles without gas engines was supposed to have compared to other vehicles was a lower cost of maintenance. That sounds great until you actually do the math.

For savvy buyers, purchasing a new vehicle means carefully calculating the total cost of ownership. Electric vehicles typically cost more up-front but hold the promise of a lower cost for maintenance. In the past, we have analyzed the maintenance costs of EVs and been a bit disappointed by the promised savings. One new vehicle that begs for a contrast to a battery-electric vehicle like the Tesla Model Y is the Toyota RAV4 Prime. This new plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV) uses a modern internal combustion engine (ICE) technology to reduce ownership costs. We felt it would be worth contrasting the new 2021 RAV4 Prime with a battery-electric vehicle its same size, the Tesla Model Y, to see the cost savings the battery electric vehicle would offer.

Summary of Costs Toyota RAV4 Prime vs. Tesla Model Y

To summarize, the RAV4 Prime has added costs that the Tesla Model Y does not.

We estimate that the added costs at 50K miles total up this way:

Oil = $240 or $400 depending upon change frequency.
Transmission Fluid - $0 or $200 depending upon if the owner changes the fluid.
Engine air filter - $50.
Tires -A credit of $492.
Total Cost Difference– A credit to the RAV4 Prime of $202 to a credit to the Tesla Model Y of $108.

So, by our estimation and calculation, and with all the possible maintenance we can think to throw at the RAV4 Prime PHEV, by 50K miles, there is simply no meaningful difference in maintenance costs to the owner between these two vehicles. They appear to be equal.

We estimate that the added costs at 100K miles total up this way:

Oil = $400 or $1,200 depending upon change frequency.
Transmission Fluid - $0 or $400 depending upon if the owner changes the fluid.
Engine air filter - $150.
Tires -A credit of $1,476 to the RAV4 Prime.
Total – A credit to the RAV4 Prime of $926 to a credit to the Tesla Model Y of $274..

Conclusion RAV4 Prime vs. Tesla Model Y Maintenance Costs

Our contrast between these two green AWD crossovers of equal size, one with a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) drivetrain and one with a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) drivetrain, is that the maintenance costs at both 50K miles and 100K miles seem to favor the PHEV. We conclude that the difference is as much as $926 in favor of the PHEV, ranging to a possible difference of $274 favoring the BEV. Most of the reason for this is tires. Had they worn the same tires, the outcome could be different. But not significantly different. We find a total cost of maintenance for 100K miles related to the RAV4 Prime’s engine ranging from about $550 to about $1,750. Given that these vehicles have an up-front cost to the consumer ranging from about $31K to about $73K, drivetrain maintenance is a small fraction of the cost of ownership.

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This is Armen Hareyan from Torque News. Please, visit us at https://www.TorqueNews.com for daily car sector news and follow us on Twitter at   / torquenewsauto   for daily automotive sector tweets. And if you would like to support our channel, I would really appreciate buying us animated applause once a month by clicking on the applaud button, which is next to the Like button, if you are watching this video on a desktop. You can go to https://www.TorqueNews.com/tesla for our daily Tesla news coverage.

John Goreham is a senior Toyota, Tesla, and Lexus reporter at Torque News. You can read John's stories at https://www.torquenews.com/users/john... and follow him on Twitter at   / johngoreham