Study casts doubt on greater claimed reliability of electric cars compared to combustion engine vehicles

Canal Motor

Madrid

Tuesday, 23 September 2025, 16:52

The idea that electric cars are more reliable than combustion cars has been one of the industry's main narratives. However, a recent study by UK-based Warranty Solutions Group (WSG) - a company specialising in vehicle warranties - has cast doubt on this statement.

After analysing 800 complaints in the UK, the research concluded that the failure rate for electric cars (13.2%) is almost the same as for combustion cars (13.7%). The study suggested that the reliability of an electric vehicle depends not only on its simpler mechanics, but also on the quality of its design and the durability of its components.

In addition, another fact that detracts from the supposed advantage of electric cars is that the average repair cost is almost 230 euros higher than that of a diesel or a petrol car.

Parts unique to electric cars, such as on-board chargers, inverters or the compressor of the air conditioning system, have a very high replacement cost.

The study also listed the electric models that stand out for their reliability and those that have presented the highest number of breakdowns. The Nissan Leaf was one of the pioneers in the market and it ranks as the most reliable electric vehicle, closely followed by the MG ZS EV and the Audi e-Tron. The Nissan model serves to show that experience gained in mass production is a key factor in reliability.

In contrast, the Tesla Model S and Volkswagen E-Golf are among the models with the highest complaint rates, along with the Kia e-Niro and Jaguar I-Pace.

In terms of the parts that fail the most, the study noted that charging ports are the main source of complaints, followed by tyre pressure monitoring systems and 12V auxiliary batteries.

The study suggested that while combustion engine breakdowns are dropping, electric cars present a new set of technical and design vulnerabilities that manufacturers have yet to optimise to match the cost and reliability of their predecessors.