With fewer mechanical parts than a petrol or diesel vehicle, electric cars tend to be more reliable and need less maintenance, meaning you'll save money here as well as on fuel. This might mean a battery replacement when required is easier to stomach - and it's worth bearing in mind that batteries rarely fail, they just degrade over time. We've heard of Nissan Leaf with hundreds of thousands of miles on the clock showing little sign of requiring new batteries. Some manufacturers (e.g. Renault) will lease you the battery with the car, which means they'll stump up the replacement costs if the battery's performance drops below 75 per cent of its original capacity.