The starting point is deliberately anxiety-provoking. The EV Clinic teams, specialists in the repair of electric vehicles, have imagined the worst case scenario: a car pushed up to 400,000 km, on which almost everything would have to be replaced. Engine, battery, gearbox, turbo, electronics… nothing is spared.
400 000 km, version film catastrophe
In this radical duel, a Tesla Model 3 Performance faces a BMW 530d G30, a six-cylinder diesel sedan well known for swallowing up the kilometers without flinching. The idea is not to predict the real life of a vehicle, but to answer a question that still bothers many motorists: “ and if everything breaks, how much will it cost me? ».
On paper, electric comes with an obvious advantage: many fewer mechanical parts. No complex gearbox, no turbo, no EGR valve or high pressure injection system. But there is this big piece that scares you: the drums. According to EV Clinic calculations, the Tesla would reach a total cost of around €58,800 after 400,000 km, including purchase. Opposite, the BMW would exceed €117,000. A spectacular difference, which obviously needs to be qualified, but which gives a fairly clear idea of the trends.
This is where the study becomes interesting. Yes, the battery is taken into account. And not by half: EV Clinic includes a new battery, billed for nearly €15,000, as well as the replacement of the two electric motors and the heat pump. Despite this, the Model 3 remains significantly cheaper than its diesel rival in this disaster scenario.
On the energy side, the reasoning is just as telling. Over 400,000 km, the Tesla would consume around 72,000 kWh, or 18 kWh/100 km. In the most unfavorable scenario – charging exclusively at fast terminals – the bill rises to €34,000. The BMW would swallow 30,000 liters of diesel for a total of around €51,000. In other words, even with fast charging, electric retains an advantage. And if most of us recharge at home, the gap becomes even more marked.
Of course, this comparison ticks all the boxes of the extreme scenario. In real life, a well-maintained BMW can reach very high mileages without seeing its engine or transmission explode. Likewise, there is no guarantee that a battery will need to be replaced at 400,000 km. The exercise, however, has the merit of putting things into perspective. Battery replacement is not the absolute pain that we sometimes imagine. And above all, the more the mileage increases, the more economically interesting electric vehicles become.
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