1. Lots of things on cars wear out over the years other than the engine/emission system. Some of the most expensive common car repairs are water pumps, AC compressors, brake lines, suspension parts, wheel bearings and brake parts, etc. EVs have all of those things, and they suffer no less wear-and-tear than ICEs. Even a full transmission or engine costs far less than replacing the battery in an EV, too.
2. The referral program is only for the Model S and Model X, which start at $70K. There is no discount and no free charging with the $35K Model 3.
> EVs have all of those things, and they suffer no less wear-and-tear than ICEs.
Brakes suffer less wear and tear.
Water pumps may be present, but they are not for the engine. If present, they are usually for an actively cooled battery. They are needed mostly for charging operations and do not run all the time. Meaning less wear and tear on them. They are also electrically operated, so there's no belt wear and tear.
Batteries very seldom suffer catastrophic failures, as opposed to, say, a transmission.
EVs can be much simpler than ICEs. Currently some of them are not, but they can be. The list of things that EVs do not have is even larger than the things they do have in common with ICEs.
Anyway, I will concede the point as being generally true – there are lots of other things that may break and are shared no matter how you power the car.
However, there's something that's harder to measure: everyday annoyances caused by parts that are "working", but not as well as they should. Engines with low compression, faulty spark plugs, or partially broken sensors feeding incorrect data to the engine's control unit. Things like that make the car feel "old", cause multiple annoying trips to repair shops, and lead people to replace their cars. Modern AC motors will run much longer, and just as well as when they were brand new. They are certain to outlast the battery that feeds them.
I have a Nissan Leaf, which I think is the best-selling EV outside China. It actually doesn't have an actively cooled battery, but like every other EV I'm aware of, it has a water pump and coolant. The pump and fan can be pretty loud actually, especially while charging.
It also has all those same problems you described. Noise from the suspension that can't quite be pinpointed. Partially broken sensors feeding incorrect data to the ECU (usually means the 12V battery voltage is low). Failing to turn on then working just fine minutes later. Throwing error messages about brakes, or "t/m malfunction", or going into "turtle mode" when the battery isn't low, or other inscrutable conditions that usually solve themselves but lead to multiple annoying trips to repair shops.
I have read forums and talked with many Leaf owners in researching my own purchase, and while there have been a few niggles reported (random charging problems, or noises, or ...), none have listed problems like this, and not all in a single car. I suppose it is possible you got one car with that many problems (or one undiagnosed issue causing many problems), but then you should be returning the car as a lemon or taking the dealer/Nissan to court. For example, going into turtle mode when the battery isn't low would be inexcusable and cause for a complete fix under warranty.
But you can read the leaf forums as well as I, you know this is way out of the norms, so why do you write like it's expected of every Leaf? I conclude this is FUD.
Yes. EVs have liquid cooled chargers/inverters, motors, and usually batteries (the Nissan Leaf being the main exception to that). That means they have coolant tanks and water pumps to move the coolant just like an ICE.
The 2015 Nissan Leaf that I looked at has a liquid cooled charger/inverter. It runs when the car is plugged in, not when driving. It runs off an electric pump and handles fairly low temps, compared to an ICE water pump driven by a belt off the engine and dealing with high temps. The Nissan manual said the coolant is expected to last 100K miles (obviously the equivalent of charging for that many miles).
2. The referral program is only for the Model S and Model X, which start at $70K. There is no discount and no free charging with the $35K Model 3.