AUTONEWS

Which are more resistant: electric or combustion cars?

The German Automobile Club (ADAC) carried out a large-scale study in which it attempted to answer the question that worries many drivers: “What type of car is most likely to break down and prevent you from continuing your journey?” Using records from its roadside assistance service, ADAC has analysed all requests for assistance from the last year, in which more than 3.6 million vehicles have broken down on the road, allowing the organisation to pinpoint the type of vehicle, as well as the engine, most closely associated with breakdowns.

The German association's study acknowledges that there are more cars on the road with combustion engines than electric ones, but also that the number of battery-powered vehicles has increased consistently over the last few years. Taking these two realities into account, ADAC confirms that it received 43,678 requests for assistance from electric vehicle users in 2024, i.e. 1.2% of the total requests for help. Selecting exclusively battery-powered models sold between 2020 and 2022, i.e. relatively new, the ADAC recorded 4.2 breakdowns that prevented the continuation of the journey for every 1000 vehicles.

Comparatively and under equal conditions, that is, in models of the same age, vehicles equipped with combustion engines showed a much greater propensity to break down in the middle of the journey. According to the aforementioned study by the German association, cars equipped with gasoline or diesel engines, manufactured between 2020 and 2022, registered 10.4 requests for help for every 1000 units in circulation. This means that combustion cars have a tendency to break down 2.5 times (2.476, to be precise) more, which will certainly come as a surprise to detractors of electric vehicles.

If the fact that battery-powered cars are considerably more reliable will not come as a surprise to those who are familiar with the automotive world, also requiring less maintenance and suffering less wear and tear on materials (except for tires, as they are heavier), what will potentially come as a surprise is that the main reason for failures in electric cars is exactly the same as in combustion cars. We are referring to the battery, specifically the small 12V accumulator that all vehicles use regardless of the engine and that powers everything that “moves” inside a car, from the lights to the horn, including the ventilation, indicators and even the act of starting the engine. The study proves that 50% of failures in electric cars and 45% in combustion models are caused by the 12V battery.

But there is one area where electric cars appear to be more sensitive than their fossil fuel competitors. We are referring to tires, since ADAC found that, for every 1000 requests for help, battery-powered cars registered 1.3 occurrences due to tire problems, while combustion cars registered 0.9. Still, the German club admits that the most recent electric cars, equipped with more modern tires (although of equivalent category), have registered a decrease in the number of problems. 

It will be interesting to know the results of such a study carried out in five to 10 years, when vehicles with more years of life and many more kilometers driven can be compared. Then it will be possible to see whether electric cars have become even more reliable than their rivals equipped with combustion engines, as technicians predict.

Mundoquatrorodas