EV vs. ICE: New Study Reveals Which Vehicles Break Down Most Often

When it comes to determining which of gasoline, hybrid and fully electric vehicles make the most financial sense in the long term, reliability inevitably has to be taken into account. To date, however, there is no consensus on this matter.

For example, a late 2023 study by Consumer Reports, based on a survey of owners and data on more than 330,000 vehicles from MY2020-2024, suggested that EVs on average have 79 percent more problems than vehicles equipped with an internal combustion engine (ICE).

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On the other hand, a recent analysis conducted by ADAC—Germany’s equivalent of CAA—came to the conclusion that EVs, proportionally speaking, break down much less often, as reported by Handelsblatt.

EVs were responsible for only 1.2 percent of the more than 3.6 million roadside assistance interventions made in 2024. Incidentally, it was the first year ADAC felt it had enough data to confidently say EVs were more reliable than ICE-powered vehicles.

“For cars first registered between 2020 and 2022, electric vehicles experienced 4.2 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles. For combustion cars in the same age range, that figure was 10.4,” ADAC noted.

It’s been found that the most common issue in both cases involved the 12V battery, representing half the breakdowns for EVs and 45 percent of the breakdowns for ICE cars.

Conventional vehicles have more or equal issues when compared to EVs in virtually every category, from the powertrain to the electrical system to lighting. The lone exception? Tires. ADAC realized that 1.3 calls for service out of 1,000 last year were for EVs with tire problems. When it comes to ICE models, that number was just 0.9.

Obviously, vehicle dependability is not merely about issues and breakdowns that require roadside assistance, since a lot of car owners make service appointments at their local dealer or repair shop to have problems fixed. Think of ADAC’s findings as extra food for thought until more comprehensive, longer-term studies are released.