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My electric car still has lead acid batteries and lead acid batteries now have a long term, per mile cost of ownership higher then lithium batteries, because they do not last as long.
I figure that my cost on battery replacement on my electric car is about the same as my cost of exhaust/muffler replacement, oil changes and new spark plugs on my gasoline car.
Looking at the Nissan web site and their check list for gasoline vehicle maintenance compared to their list for the Nissan Leaf and I see that areas where they over lap is in rotating tires, checking steering and suspension, replacing windshield wipers, replacing the cabin air filter and changing brake fluid.
Nissan says that their gear oil is good for the life of the vehicle, the transmission fluid in their gasoline vehicles is not.
The gasoline vehicles also require spark plugs, exhaust systems, starting battery, fuel filters, coolant, radiator cap, drive belts, starters, alternators.
Regen braking also reduces brake wear so there is a chance that the brakes will last the life of the vehicle, altho on EV's they recommend changing the brake fluid slightly more often to keep moisture from building up in it, but that is also recommended in gasoline cars and most people never do it in the life of the vehicle.
Yes, batteries wear down over time, but so do engines, less so then in the past, but as they wear your gas mileage/range per gallon of fuel decreases and there are still a lot of vehicles that have engines fail requiring a top end rebuild or other major work rendering the vehicle useless until the repair is done, a battery that only holds half it's charge still gives you a 30-40 mile range, well within what over 70% of the country drives daily.
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