Which?, a UK-based consumer market research company, has shared a study dedicated to the reliability of vehicles with various powertrains. It turned out that EVs were generally believed to be less reliable than traditional fuel-powered cars.
The survey encompassed 48,000 British drivers owning more than 57,000 vehicles four years old or newer. They were asked about their experience as far as defects and maintenance works were concerned.
Mild hybrids were found to be the most reliable with only 17.3% found faulty and 3.9 days of downtime per year on average. Gas-powered cars followed close with 18.6% and only 3 days of annual downtime.
The other powertrains proved more troublesome. 27.5% of all plug-in hybrids had to be repaired with 4.2 days spent at service stations on average. Diesels were comparable with 29.1% and 3.8 days, and EVs led the ranking with 31.4% and 5.1 days, the longest maintenance time.
A total of 2,184 electric cars participated in the study. Their owners most often complained about software issues. Tesla led the rating with 39% of its cars found faulty in at least some way, while Kia e-Niro EV was the least troublesome of all.