Why Did Our Kia EV9’s First Service Cost $322? Aren't EVs Supposed to Be Cheaper To Maintain?
On top of everything, we have to visit the service department again.
The list of benefits to driving an EV is long. There’s the effortless torque, the smooth power delivery, the calm highway experience, the convenience of home charging, the reduced carbon emissions, and the smug satisfaction that your pop-out door handles are so much cooler than those old-fashioned flappy things on most gas cars. OK, some of those might only be benefits depending on your personal preferences and politics, but no matter how you feel about EVs, there’s one advantage that should be indisputable fact: EVs make good financial sense.
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You see, although an EV almost always costs more to drive off the lot than a comparable gas car, lower fuel and maintenance costs should result in a net savings after a few years of ownership—or this is what we commonly hear from automakers and EV acolytes. But it’s unlikely to hold water when simple maintenance costs $322, as the first service visit with our yearlong 2024 Kia EV9 Land did.
What Kia Says vs. What LaFontaine Kia Says
Crack open the EV9 owner’s manual and the service schedule supports the narrative that EVs are cheaper to own. Kia recommends the first scheduled maintenance visit after 8,000 miles or a year of ownership and calls only for a tire rotation and the usual inspections. Seems simple enough.
The Kia Access app started warning us the EV9 would soon need service around the time the odometer rolled past 7,000 miles. Following the in-app prompts to schedule an appointment allowed me to pick my preferred dealer—LaFontaine Kia in Ypsilanti, Michigan—but ended with a message that the service department would contact me within one business day. That call never came. Instead, I phoned the dealer a week later and booked an appointment through an automated system that, while easy enough to navigate, wasn’t better than talking to a human.
I arrived early for my appointment and let the adviser know I was leaving the car and expecting them to address both the 8,000-mile maintenance and some outstanding recall repairs—a nuance that the automated service scheduler was apparently incapable of picking up on. The adviser initially suggested I’d have to come back in two months to address the three recalls, but when I pointed out we were talking about software updates, he agreed to do them that day.
Then came the sticker shock. The adviser quoted me $334.64 for the maintenance. I balked and asked what that included. According to the dealership, the recommended service involved rotating and balancing the tires, replacing the cabin air filters, and a four-wheel alignment. The owner’s manual calls for replacing those filters at 16,000 miles and specifically says alignment and balancing should only be performed if you notice unusual tire wear or the vehicle pulling in one direction. “The wheels on your vehicle were aligned and balanced carefully at the factory to give you the longest tire life and best overall performance. In most cases, you should not need to have your wheels realigned,” it reads.
