Image Credit: ADAC
A new study conducted by Europe’s largest automobile association has found that electric vehicles (EVs) are less prone to breaking down than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles of the same age, which can suffer two and a half times as many breakdowns as electric cars.
The German Automobile Club (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club, ADAC) published an analysis of its database that records all the breakdowns its “Yellow Angel” service responders attended. With each year that has passed, ADAC has been able to further expand the comparison between EVs and ICE vehicles, improving its analysis and conclusions.
Throughout 2024, ADAC’s Yellow Angels responded to 3.6 million breakdowns, with the total number of breakdowns increasing by 97 per cent, and the number of EV breakdowns increasing by 46 per cent due to the growing number of EVs on German roads.
When comparing EVs to ICE vehicles, ADAC limits its comparisons to vehicles of the same age, with 2024’s numbers providing greater confirmation.
Limiting its sample size to vehicles aged between two to four years old, ADAC found that combustion engines suffered two and a half times as many breakdowns as electric cars – working out to 9.4 ICE breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles, and 3.8 EV breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles.
ADAC’s analysis looked at a total of 159 different car models, finding that the Tesla Model 3 demonstrated the best performance among EVs two years old, with 0.5 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles.
The most susceptible EV to breakdowns was the Hyundai Ioniq 5, with 22.4 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles, with its problems blamed on its integrated charging control unit (ICCU).
The analysis also found that defective starter batteries were a common cause of breakdowns between both EVs and ICE vehicles, accounting for 44.9 per cent of all breakdowns attended by ADAC in 2024. Divided between engine type, defective 12V starter batteries were the cause of 50.5 per cent of EV breakdowns, but only 44.6 per cent of ICE vehicles.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.
BP says it is adding a “tap and charge” feature to its BP Plus platform…
I bought my EV in 2019, and after a honeymoon of free public charging I…
Tesla's upcoming software update will increase safety for owners and their vehicles along with adding…
They are sold as vehicles that will cut petrol consumption, but tests on Australian roads…
SAPN is officially treating V2G vehicles as batteries, as other energy distributors race to figure…
It costs me just $2.40 to travel the 400 kms from Melbourne to Apollo Bay…
View Comments
[Insert Nelson Muntz laugh here] Must have hurt to write that, Josh, what with your anti-Tesla stance. 😂
The Model Y was also among the best performers, as were two other EVs (Audi Q4 e-tron and VW ID.4) and three ICE models (two Audis and one BMW).
BYD for the win TODAY.
Actually I have wondered about this entire site's slant regarding Tesla all along. They seem to want only Chinese vehicles because nobody else is supplying anything worth buying. Of course the Teslas available here are Chinese made too but I guess its' the Tesla Bad, Elon Bad syndrome?
EVs from other countries apart from China are very expensive in Australia in comparison to Tesla. Paying 15% - 20% more for a less competent EV for a Korean, Japanese, European or US car isn't going that well for the market
Keep gulping down the koolaid
Can't gulp down facts - they're solid not liquid!
Probably a minor translation error: While the number of EV breakdowns in 2024 was 46% higher than in 2023, the original text does not seem to imply that the total number of breakdowns increased by 97%.
Actually, the number of breakdowns that were attended to increased from roughly 3.5 million in 2023 to more than 3.6 million in 2024.
The 97% seems to refer to the increase (from 2023 to 2024) in number of EV models included in their breakdown database based on their multi-year inclusion criteria.
The article is based on reported causes of calls for road service. In general the common vehicles up to 10 years old are classified as good and bad (Tops & Flops). The flops are mostly imports and tops mostly German?
Statistics have been accumulated since 2020 and reported annually since. The statistics are based on registrations based on the last full 2 years. This means this years reports is based on 2022 and 2023 registrations.
The most common calls for recovery are Starter battery 45%, Motor electronics 22%, Generator 11%, Tyres 9%, Lock/Key 7%, and miscellaneous. This has very little to do with vehicle reliability and not really useful from my perspective. Not even run out of petrol to claim insurance.
The use of LiFePO batteries in EVs would dramatically improve the reported call rate of EVs if we want to make an issue of recovery call rate compared to ICEs - not a big deal but like general reliability is an improvement that should be universal for all EV manufacturers.
Tesla has replaced their 12v lead/acid batteries with lithium ones, so this would account for a lot of those "breakdowns". Lead acid ones only have 234 year life spans while lithium ones should be good for the "life" of the vehicle. Why aren't more switching over? Reliance on "off the shelf" parts suppliers would be my guess.
that should be 2-3-4 not 234! Ha!
Ha!
I was trying to put a sarcasm filter on the whole post, and it wasn't fitting!
Phew!
I'm glad that we have the narrative that hybrid cars are always referred to as EVs!
Look at how reliable EVs are!
BYD sell more EVs than Tesla!
Headline. "EV's more than twice as reliable as ICE. FACT.
ICE has inbuilt vulnerability......... emissions comtrols - in all their complexity TODAY - and a DPF regen can even set your car alight.... and a bushfire to boot (you wouldn't read about it and you WON'T read about it).That's why it is definitely OVER. The manufacturers have worked THAT out.
LFP , an electric motor and an iPad/tablet is sheer simplicity safety and longevity. Why resist further ???.