Without the use of a gas engine, electric cars don’t need oil. That means no more oil changes.

Do electric cars need oil changes? Electric cars don’t use engine oil. But they do often use oil inside their reduction gearboxes, which may need to be changed over the car’s lifespan.

There’s no gear shifting required in an electric car as your speed changes, nor do you need to press down a clutch as you would in a regular car to do this.

Electric cars function by plugging into a charge point and taking electricity from the grid. They store the electricity in rechargeable batteries that power an electric motor, which turns the wheels. Electric cars accelerate faster than vehicles with traditional fuel engines – so they feel lighter to drive.

To calculate the cost per mile of an EV, the cost of electricity (in dollars per kWh) and the efficiency of the vehicle (how much electricity is used to travel 100 miles) must be known. If electricity costs $0.13 per kWh and the vehicle consumes 33 kWh to travel 100 miles, the cost per mile is about $0.04.

FAQ: Does my electric car need a special charging station? Not necessarily. There are three types of charging stations for electric cars, and the most basic plugs into a standard wall outlet. However, if you want to charge your car more quickly, you can also have an electrician install a charging station at your home.

Cost of home charging The first comes with no installation costs because you’ll have existing sockets in your house, but since a car takes several hours to charge, it’s best done overnight. Electricity costs 14p per kWh on average.

Charging your electric car while out and about is a great way to top up your battery and many locations offer free charging to their customers or visitors. On most modern networks you can use a free-to-download mobile app to find chargepoints and start your charge.