There are increasingly more electric cars, and that, to state the obvious, makes reliability reports more trustworthy. A report published recently by ADAC, the German equivalent here to RACE which assists millions of cars on the road every year, concluded that electric cars are more than twice as reliable as gasoline or diesel vehicles. In other words: they experience half as many breakdowns as petrol-powered cars.
The ADAC argues that this is the first time they can answer more accurately the question of whether electric cars are safer, since they have more zero-emission data that have been on the road for more than two years. Moreover, this report is based solely on on-road breakdowns attended by ADAC.
Twice as reliable as gasoline and diesel
This ADAC reliability analysis corresponds to the breakages attended in 2024. In total they performed 3.6 million operations, of which 43,678 were electric. This represents 1.2% of the total. The truth is that there are fewer pure electric cars than combustion ones, but also that the failure rate for electrics is lower when compared with thermally powered models of the same age.
It should be noted that this report analyzes only car models for which at least 7,000 units have been registered in the last two years. In this latest report, nearly 160 models from 20 market brands were evaluated. The analysis covers cars aged between two and nine years.
According to this ADAC analysis, in 2024 its technicians attended 8.5 electric cars per 1,000 existing with four years of age, compared with 12.9 combustion ones attended per 1,000 of the same age. If you include cars aged between two and four years, the breakdown rate for combustion was 9.4 and for electrics 3.8.
With this latest figure, it is suggested that electric cars break down at a frequency more than twice as low as thermals. The German automotive club also analyzes the reasons why.
Simpler mechanics, fewer breakdowns. The main cause of breakdowns in the serviced cars, regardless of their drivetrain, is the 12V auxiliary battery. This includes electric cars, which actually have a higher percentage of breakdowns for this reason than gasoline, diesel, or hybrids: 50% of the breakdowns versus 45% for the thermals.
Nevertheless, the mechanics of electrics in general, much simpler, are less prone to failures. For example, when it comes to the electronic engine management system. Moreover, they not only have fewer components but they also wear out less since they are not subjected to such high temperatures.
More reliable statistics. The ADAC thus concludes that electrics tend to break down less, but warns that this conclusion is drawn from the current data. That is, models registered between 2020 and 2023. While this is the first time they have up to three full years with electrics, future reports will be more precise: with more electric cars circulating and increasingly older ones.
Ultimately, this is a new technology that has evolved a lot in a few years. They also note that the learning curve for brands regarding zero-emissions is notable, so it would be logical for them to improve more quickly and for their data to even surpass the current figures.
Tesla are the least prone to breakdowns, but other reports say otherwise. When it comes to models, the ADAC list includes models such as the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, the Volkswagen ID.4, the Audi Q4 e-tron, or the Hyundai IONIQ 5. For two-year-old cars, the worst hit among electrics is the IONIQ 5, which recorded 22.4 breakdowns per 1,000 cars.
Meanwhile, the ID.4’s breakdown ratio was 1.0 and the Teslas lowered that threshold: 0.9 for the Model Y and 0.5 for the Model 3. The Audi Q4 e-tron registered 0.7 breakdowns per thousand cars.
Nevertheless, this is what the breakdowns attended by ADAC look like. If we turn to other reliability reports that analyze failures in general, such as the latest from TÜV (the German MOT), the Tesla Model 3 did not fare well. In 2024, it was the electric with the most faults compared with any other model due to issues with its headlights, brakes and suspensions.
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