How reliable are electric cars?

[johnnnnnnyy]

I've seen quite a few posts from owners of new cars that have had to be taken home on a flat bed due to something braking on their new car, or the usual recalls.(also experiencing it myself)

I'm both curious and interested to know will we have the same problem with our future transport, with less moving mechanical parts on electric cars are they are more reliable, less recalls etc?
Will most recalls be a thing of the past due to them being online and manufactures send a software fix?

Curious to know from electric car owners or any stats anywhere?

[vexed]

Fewer moving mechanical parts

[jkh112]

I think a lot of the issues to date have been around software glitches and charger incompatibilities, combined with unknowlegable roadside breakdown services and dealers.
As the technology matures and becomes more mainstream I see reliability being much better than conventional ICE cars.

[JD]

https://electrek.co/2017/10/20/bolt-reliable-chevy...

[Heres Johnny]

Speaking fir Tesla, sadly not as reliable as they should be. A lot of stupid issues that don’t prevent use and a few that do. It’s hard to know whether they’re higher as a % but I suspect they are. That said, Tesla are good at trying to sort issues out. On the uk owners forum there’s a guy this week who was given a loaner why his was being fixed, the loaner broke so was given a loaner for the loaner and that broke.. although I’m starting to suspect it was him!

[babatunde]

Question should probably ask if they are more reliable than ICE cars.


Answer is "we don't have a large enough subset to determine with any real accuracy" logic would support though that they would be more reliable than the equivalent ICE car due to fewer moving parts. The service schedules would support this hypothesis.

Once there are a few million on the road for 20+ years we will have a clearer view.

[Heres Johnny]

babatunde said:

Question should probably ask if they are more reliable than ICE cars.


Answer is "we don't have a large enough subset to determine with any real accuracy" logic would support though that they would be more reliable than the equivalent ICE car due to fewer moving parts. The service schedules would support this hypothesis.

Once there are a few million on the road for 20+ years we will have a clearer view.

Service schedules don’t support it, Tesla recommend 12 months or 12.5k miles, that’s a lot more often than my last BMW. They don’t invalidate warranty if you don’t get it serviced, but that’s not the same as saying it shows they’re more reliable.

Given time they will be, and maybe it’s just Tesla, but Tesla are constantly rolling out software fixes and require the odd service centre visit.

[Deerfoot]

I'll be watching this with interest.

I'm really interested in a Zoe for my wife, it appears to fit her usage profile perfectly, but after a quick read on an EV forum they don't appear to be that reliable.

Renault have had a few cars for weeks on end fixing faults (to be fair to them they've provided cars to keep the owners mobile).

It'd replace a Jazz that has been 100% faultless for 4 years so I need to be confident that my wife wouldn't get stranded prior to buying.

[HTP99]

Deerfoot said:

I'll be watching this with interest.

I'm really interested in a Zoe for my wife, it appears to fit her usage profile perfectly, but after a quick read on an EV forum they don't appear to be that reliable.

Renault have had a few cars for weeks on end fixing faults (to be fair to them they've provided cars to keep the owners mobile).

It'd replace a Jazz that has been 100% faultless for 4 years so I need to be confident that my wife wouldn't get stranded prior to buying.

Problem is you only hear the bad stuff on the Internet.

I've sold Zoe for 3 odd years, selling about 50-60 in that time and I can't recall one with any major issues.

My colleague had 1, 3 years ago which arrived broken and it was off the road for 2 months but that was in the early days when it was all new.

[Deerfoot]

HTP99 said:

Problem is you only hear the bad stuff on the Internet.

Absolutely. According to the guys on the forum (and they appear to be EV fans so I've no reason to doubt the information), it's availability of parts that were the main problem, I think it was the PEC that was on back order.

The other sticking point is that the nearest ZE Renault dealer is 25 miles away although there is a conventional Renault franchise around 8 miles away.

I'm going to have a good look at one in a couple of weeks.

[lost in espace]

3 electric cars owned in 4 years, no breakdowns.

[Deerfoot]

lost in espace said:

3 electric cars owned in 4 years, no breakdowns.

Any Zoes amongst them?

[jonobigblind]

Having picked up themes from forums, I’m willing to wager a good proportion of EVs seen on flatbeds are due to running out of charge rather than a full breakdown.

[feef]

Depending on usage, even if they aren't as reliable, it might still be worth a punt.


I'm probably going to pick up a second hand Leaf (owned not leased battery) which can be had for around £6k. I currently spend between £250 and £300 a month on diesel which means with the cost of charging in the realms of pennies, it'll pretty much have paid for itself in 2 years. Any repair bills beyond that can easily be covered by the fuel cost savings.

I'll just keep the C6 for longer journeys

[TooLateForAName]

feef said:

Depending on usage, even if they aren't as reliable, it might still be worth a punt.


I'm probably going to pick up a second hand Leaf (owned not leased battery) which can be had for around £6k. I currently spend between £250 and £300 a month on diesel which means with the cost of charging in the realms of pennies, it'll pretty much have paid for itself in 2 years. Any repair bills beyond that can easily be covered by the fuel cost savings.

I'll just keep the C6 for longer journeys

£6K is probably gen1 - I'd really recommend stretching slightly and make sure you get a gen2 car. There are a couple of significant improvements, different battery tech which seems to be more reliable and the gen2 doesnt have the electric handbrake.

[gifdy]

Deerfoot said:

lost in espace said:

3 electric cars owned in 4 years, no breakdowns.

Any Zoes amongst them?

I owned a Zoe for 2 years. There were no problems, other than that blue sticky stuff they put on the badges peeling off. Great car and persuaded us to buy another electric car.

[andrewrob]

TooLateForAName said:

feef said:

Depending on usage, even if they aren't as reliable, it might still be worth a punt.


I'm probably going to pick up a second hand Leaf (owned not leased battery) which can be had for around £6k. I currently spend between £250 and £300 a month on diesel which means with the cost of charging in the realms of pennies, it'll pretty much have paid for itself in 2 years. Any repair bills beyond that can easily be covered by the fuel cost savings.

I'll just keep the C6 for longer journeys

£6K is probably gen1 - I'd really recommend stretching slightly and make sure you get a gen2 car. There are a couple of significant improvements, different battery tech which seems to be more reliable and the gen2 doesnt have the electric handbrake.

I'd second that, also worth noting that the gen2 has a much more efficient heater
I've got a gen 2 on PCP and paying £150 a month with a £200 deposit for 10k miles a year.
It was a 3 year old car when I started, now at 35k miles and 4 years with full battery bars and no issues at all. Zoes don't seem to be as reliable, gen 2leafs seem to be able to go to 170k miles whilst only loosing about 15% of their range and needing nothing but wipers and tyres and some of them anti roll bar links.

Most getting rid at 170k were taxis just because the interior was getting a bit tatty

[Captain Answer]

No problems with my Leaf in the first year (touch wood) and don't seem to see any major issues crop up on the Leaf FB group, chap at work has a Zoe and is always having issues with it and taking it back to the dealer.

[feef]

TooLateForAName said:

feef said:

Depending on usage, even if they aren't as reliable, it might still be worth a punt.


I'm probably going to pick up a second hand Leaf (owned not leased battery) which can be had for around £6k. I currently spend between £250 and £300 a month on diesel which means with the cost of charging in the realms of pennies, it'll pretty much have paid for itself in 2 years. Any repair bills beyond that can easily be covered by the fuel cost savings.

I'll just keep the C6 for longer journeys

£6K is probably gen1 - I'd really recommend stretching slightly and make sure you get a gen2 car. There are a couple of significant improvements, different battery tech which seems to be more reliable and the gen2 doesnt have the electric handbrake.

8K+ for a 2013 onwards is not really stretching a 'little bit' it's 25% more.

I've looked at both, and for the vast majority of my journeys (5 miles each way to work with maybe a detour via the school, and 40 miles on a saturday) the difference in range isn't a massive issue.

Is there an issue with the electric parking brake?

[andrewrob]

feef said:

8K+ for a 2013 onwards is not really stretching a 'little bit' it's 25% more.

I've looked at both, and for the vast majority of my journeys (5 miles each way to work with maybe a detour via the school, and 40 miles on a saturday) the difference in range isn't a massive issue.

Is there an issue with the electric parking brake?

Yes when they fail which quite a few have they are a £1500 fix.
I really would go for the gen2 I know its a fair bit more but if you're wanting to keep the car for a good few years it will be well worth it. More boot space too