According to a new report from Consumer Reports, electric vehicles (“EVs”) have nearly 80% more problems and are generally less reliable than cars propelled by conventional internal combustion engines. 

The findings are based on a survey of Consumer Reports’ members about problems they’ve had with their vehicles in the prior year. The current report included data on more than 330,000 vehicles made between 2000 to 2023, with a few reports on new 2024 models.

“We study 20 trouble areas, from nuisances – such as squeaky brakes and broken interior trim – to major bummers, such as potentially expensive out-of-warranty engine, transmission, EV battery, and EV charging problems. We use that information to give reliability ratings for every major mainstream model,” Consumer Reports wrote.

The consumer group found that EVs had 79% more problems than fuel-powered vehicles. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were even worse with an average of 146% more problems than internal combustion engines. By contrast, the analysis found that hybrid cars have about 26% fewer problems than fuel-powered cars.

EVs can have up to 12 trouble areas.  EV owners most frequently reported troubles with EV drive system motors, EV charging systems and EV batteries.  Flaws in how the vehicles’ body panels and interior parts fit together have also been reported.

Plug-in electric vehicles can experience all 20 trouble areas.  As well as experiencing all the same problems as internal combustion engines, EVs experience problems with electric motors, EV batteries and EV charging.

For more details, go to Consumer Report’s Guide to Car Reliability.

Featured image: The Main Problems That Electric Car Owners Face, Hotcars, 8 November 2021

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Electric vehicles have 80% more problems than fuel-powered vehicles, a new report finds

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