Electric cars are LESS reliable than petrols
The survey of more than 48,000 UK car owners found that the most reliable cars of any fuel type are conventional self-charging hybrids, with just one in six (17 per cent) owners reporting a fault with ‘new’ cars aged up to four years old in the prevailing 12 months.
Petrols were the next most dependable, with just 19 per cent of owners of newer models reporting issues, followed by plug-in hybrids (28 per cent).
Diesel cars were found to be marginally more reliable than EVs, with 29 per cent of drivers reporting issues with their oil burners.
Lisa Barber, home products and services editor at Which? said: ‘We know that drivers are keen to make the move to more environmentally-friendly cars but it is vital that they are getting a quality product.’
She added: ‘With EVs in particular, our research shows a premium price tag does not necessarily mean a reliable vehicle, so we would always encourage drivers to do their research ahead of such a significant purchase to see which cars and brands they can trust.’
While the report painted an unreliable picture for pure electric models, Which? concedes that most faults reported are software issues rather than serious problems with batteries or parts of the drivetrain that powers the vehicle.
This means most issues are likely with infotainment screens and other electrical features, such as reversing cameras.
The RAC warned that Which?’s findings ‘should be taken with a pinch of salt’ and that many of these software glitches raised could be simple to resolve.
James Gibson, the motoring organisation’s head of technical, said: ‘There is no question there are fewer moving parts with electric cars which makes them more reliable than a petrol or diesel car in the long run, but it’s also the case that the software running them is more complex which has the potential to cause some issues.
‘But it’s very important to realise that most software problems can be solved easily, either by wireless updates or ‘restarts’ in the same way as a desktop computer simply by disconnecting the 12v auxiliary battery and ‘rebooting’ the system, something our expert patrols routinely do for our members in these situations.
‘Many manufacturers are also able to help drivers sort issues out over the phone by getting them to carry out certain functions to reboot systems.
‘While taking a new electric car back to the dealership is clearly frustrating it can be the case with any new car, regardless of how it’s powered.’
Which? has already demanded Tesla’s £8k Model S saloon (pictured) be recalled after the watchdog identified repeat concerns from owners regarding issues with door handles and locks
Tesla the least reliable EV brand
Which?’s survey also found that Tesla is the least reliable of all EV brands, despite its cars having premium price tags. However, Tesla is one of less than a handful of EV-only car makers alongside Polestar.
The research highlighted a raft of build quality complaints raised by owners in the US and UK in recent years and comes after a string of problems faced by Elon Musk’s car firm, which issued four different recalls on vehicles in two weeks in February.
In cars up to four years old, two fifths (39 per cent) of Teslas had at least one fault and one in 20 (5 per cent) had a breakdown or failed to start.
Which? has previously called for the Tesla Model S saloon (2013- present), which starts from £79,980, to be recalled over issues with its door handles and locks for two years running.
One piece of positive news for Tesla and owners of its cars is that they are only off the road for just under three and a half days on average when they needed repair work.
Kia’s e-Niro (pictured) was rated by owners as the most reliable of all compact SUVs, no matter the fuel type
Just 6% of e-Niro owners reported any kind of fault with their car and only one in 100 said their car had failed to start or broke down
Which?: ‘Manufacturers should follow Kia’s example’
While it was bad news for Tesla, the poll of UK drivers found that some EV examples have been almost entirely fault free in the previous 12 months of use.
One of these is Kia’s e-Niro (2019- present), which is one of the more affordable family EVs, starting from £32,895. It even qualifies for the Government’s Plug-in Car Grant to save buyers £1,500 on the purchase price.
It was not only the most reliable of all EVs but also the most dependable compact SUV across all fuel types, gazumping all petrol, diesel and hybrid-powered rivals.
Just one in every 17 (6 per cent) e-Niro owners reported any kind of fault with their car and only just in 100 said their car had failed to start or broke down.
However, the unlucky few who did have an issue faced an average of around eight and a half days of their car being off the road, showing there is still work to do on improving repair times when things do go wrong.
‘In spite of the high fault rates reported by EV owners in the survey, Kia has proven that electric cars have the potential to be very dependable,’ the consumer watchdog said.
‘Which? is calling on other car makers to up their game and improve the quality of their cars.
‘Manufacturers need to gain the trust of drivers to encourage them to switch towards more sustainable cars.’
Barber added: ‘Whilst it’s disappointing to see that EVs as a group are the least reliable, Kia’s e-Niro shows there is a significant opportunity for manufacturers to up their game and provide drivers with a reliable and more sustainable car.’