EVs more reliable than comparable combustion engine cars – German auto club
Clean Energy Wire
Electric vehicles (EVs) tend to function more reliably and have fewer breakdowns than internal combustion engine cars (ICEs), the German Automobile Club (ADAC) has found in an analysis of its 2024 repair service data. “We found that EVs are less prone to breakdowns than ICEs of the same age group,” ADAC said after reviewing its 3.6 million service missions in the past year. While there were 97 percent more EVs on the road than in 2023, the number of EV breakdowns with ADAC assistance only grew 46 percent, it added. For cars aged between two and four years, ICEs were two-and-a-half times more likely to break down than EVs.
However, two ICEs were overall the most reliable, namely the MINI and the Audi A4, while the Tesla Model 3 was the most reliable EV, ADAC said. From 1,000 ICEs, 9.4 required assistance in 2024, while the same was true for only 3.8 EVs out of 1,000 cars. The most common malfunction in all cars (44.9% of all cases) was a failing starter battery.
German customers only recently have begun warming to EVs as an alternative to traditional ICE cars, for which German manufacturers traditionally have been a technology leader. The country is likely to miss its target of putting 15 million electric cars on the road by 2030, with 1.65 million battery electric cars registered as of 1 January 2025, and the prospective next government plans to introduce several policies to incentivise EVs.
