ADAC: “Electric cars more reliable than petrol cars”

The statistics don't lie.

A question of estimation: how often does the roadside assistance have to be called out per year? Difficult to estimate, right? The German ANWB colleagues of the ADAC had to go out 3.6 million times last year for a breakdown. That is an average of 9,863 times per day. So the emergency services are not sitting still, and the same applies to the researchers of the ADAC. With so many bad luck cases, scientists have a huge mountain of data to calculate statistics. For example, the hypothesis that electric cars are more reliable than petrol cars. That is not as simple as it seems.

EV vs Gasoline

ADAC points out an important point when comparing electric and petrol cars. The average age of all cars registered in Germany is around 10 years. EVs are a lot younger. I don't have to explain to you that younger cars have less breakdowns than diesel cars that have been around for over 10 years. That's why ADAC limits its research to cars built in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The ADAC reports that in 2024 exactly 43,678 calls were made for an EV standing still next to the road. That is 46 percent more than in 2023. Not so strange, the ADAC thinks, because there are a lot more EVs. And we thought that things were going so badly with the EV in our eastern neighbours.

EV more reliable than petrol and diesel cars

Anyone who thinks that the combustion engine would therefore be the most reliable is mistaken. Of the cars from 2020, ADAC recorded 12.9 breakdowns per 1,000 existing vehicles. For EVs, this is 8.5 per 1,000 cars. Even with newer models, cars with an exhaust break down more often. For petrol and diesel cars from 2021, ADAC recorded an average of 8.2 breakdowns per 1,000 cars and for EVs from that year only 4.3 breakdowns. In relative terms, the biggest difference is in the cars from 2022: 5.4 problem vehicles per 1,000 cars compared to 1.7 breakdowns per 1,000 EVs.

The statement

So how come EVs are so much more reliable? This is mainly due to the complex combustion engine. An engine block quickly consists of hundreds of parts, while an electric motor is much simpler with fewer parts. More parts also means a greater chance of a part breaking down.

An important difference: an electric motor does not need oil, unlike a combustion engine. If you do not top up or change the oil in time, you run an additional risk of engine damage. In addition, electric motors produce less residual heat than combustion engines, which operate at high temperatures and cause more wear.

On the other hand, EVs often have a bit more electronics on board that can cause problems. This is partly because the 12-volt battery that supplies the car's electrical system with power is sensitive to malfunctions and often runs out faster. You can help your EV with this by not always unlocking the car via the app. These starting processes put a relatively heavy load on the starter battery according to the ADAC.

In short: at the moment, a young EV in Germany is more reliable than young German cars with a combustion engine. The German equivalent of the ANWB does point out that this does not have to be the case forever. "However, it remains exciting to see how this topic will develop in the coming years", writes ADAC. But for now, the claim of a VW executive is confirmed.

This article ADAC: “Electric cars more reliable than petrol cars” first appeared on Autoblog.nl.

Source: MSN