High-mileage EVs more reliable than petrol cars, study finds — SkimNews
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- New AutoMotive study of 47.4 million MOT tests found EVs were about 25% less likely to fail than petrol cars at 90,000 to 120,000 miles (16.5% versus 22.1% failure rate)
- Beyond 120,000 miles, EVs posted a 16% failure rate against 23.5% for petrol cars, while the study found relatively little difference between fuel types at lower mileages
- BVRLA chief executive Toby Poston said mileage alone should not deter used-car buyers, calling the secondhand market where 'the transition to electric becomes accessible to millions more motorists'
- New AutoMotive CEO Ben Nelmes attributed the durability edge to 'the mechanical simplicity of an electric drivetrain,' which becomes more valuable as miles accumulate
- EVs recorded nearly twice as many tyre defects as petrol cars, and older low-mileage electric cars showed elevated friction-brake defects from corrosion caused by infrequent brake use
- Researchers flagged that MOT tests do not measure battery health, degradation, or charging performance — variables buyers must assess separately when evaluating any used EV
Why it matters: Many secondhand EVs originate from company and leasing fleets carrying heavy odometer readings, and buyers have traditionally treated high mileage as a red flag. This 47.4 million-test dataset gives dealers and consumers a quantitative basis to discount that assumption — but only partially, since MOTs exclude battery health, the single largest unknown for any used EV.
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