A recent study conducted by the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC), Europe’s largest automobile association, has revealed that electric vehicles (EVs) have a significantly lower breakdown rate compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles of the same age.
The analysis, based on data from ADAC’s “Yellow Angel” breakdown service, indicates that ICE vehicles experience two and a half times as many breakdowns as their electric counterparts.
Over the course of 2024, ADAC’s Yellow Angels attended to 3.6 million breakdowns, marking a substantial increase of 97 per cent compared to previous years.
The rise can be attributed to a growing number of vehicles on the road, with EV breakdowns alone increasing by 46 per cent. ADAC’s comparison focuses on vehicles aged between two to four years to ensure a fair assessment of reliability.
The findings reveal that for this age bracket, ICE vehicles faced 9.4 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles compared to just 3.8 breakdowns per 1,000 for EVs. ADAC’s analysis encompassed 159 different car models, identifying the Tesla Model 3 as the best performer among two-year-old electric vehicles, with only 0.5 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles.
Conversely, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 was noted as the most breakdown-prone EV, recording 22.4 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles, an issue attributed to its integrated charging control unit (ICCU).
Moreover, the study revealed that defective starter batteries were a common factor in both EV and ICE vehicle breakdowns. In total, these issues accounted for 44.9 per cent of the breakdowns ADAC responded to in 2024. When further scrutinised, 50.5 per cent of breakdowns involving EVs were linked to faulty 12V starter batteries, slightly higher than the 44.6 per cent associated with ICE vehicles.
The insights provided by ADAC’s comprehensive analysis underscore the ongoing evolution of vehicle technology and its implications for reliability on the road.
