Almost everyone in America has seen the screaming headlines. “Consumer reports weigh on electric vehicle reliability,” reads a headline in the Detroit Free Press. “Electric vehicles have almost 80% more problems than gas-powered ones,” shrieked CBS News. “Electric vehicles are significantly less reliable than gasoline-powered cars,” enthused Faux News. Omigosh. The onslaught of negative press made me think about taking a shotgun to the garage and putting my Model Y out of its misery.
But wait. Before taking such drastic action, I decided to actually read what Consumer Reports had to say. Here’s the current headline from November 29, 2023: “Electric vehicles are less reliable than conventional cars.” In CR’s latest survey, hybrids are the most reliable cars and PHEVs are the least reliable. Tesla’s Model Y is newly recommended.”
Gosh, if Mode Y is recommended, maybe there’s more to the story than just the headline? So I decided to read the report myself, something the Detroit Free Press, CBS News and Faux News didn’t think was necessary in their pursuit of journalism excellence. Here’s what Consumer Reports actually said.
Electric vehicle owners continue to report far more problems with their vehicles than owners of conventional or hybrid vehicles, according to Consumer Reports’ newly released annual vehicle reliability survey. The survey shows that electric vehicles from the last three model years had, on average, 79 percent more problems than conventional cars. Based on responses from owners of more than 330,000 vehicles, the survey covers 20 potential problem areas including engine, transmission, electric motors, leaks and infotainment systems.
“Most electric cars today are made either by legacy automakers that are new to electric vehicle technology or by companies like Rivian that are new to auto manufacturing,” says Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing at Consumer Reports. “It’s not surprising that they have growing pains and need some time to work out the kinks.” Fisher says some of the most common problems electric vehicle owners report are problems with the electric drive motors, charging and batteries electric vehicles are. (Note: Member-reported charging issues relate to the vehicle, not home or public chargers.)
Tesla, which has been building electric vehicles for more than a decade, is in the middle of the pack in terms of brand reliability. First introduced for the 2020 model year, the Model Y is recommended by CR for the first time this year as owners report fewer problems with the suspension, in-car electronics and overall build quality than in previous years. The Model Y receives CR recommended status together with the Model 3.
“Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y are now the sweet spot in the automotive industry when it comes to building electric cars,” says Fisher. “Although Tesla is still a relatively new car company, it has more experience producing electric vehicles than any other automaker.”
“While Tesla’s EV components are generally reliable, the company continues to struggle with the build quality of its vehicles,” said Steven Elek, who leads the auto data analytics program at CR. “Tesla powertrains are now pretty solid for the most part, but Tesla owners report many build quality issues, including patchy paint, broken panels, door handles that don’t work, and trunks that don’t close. All of this detracts from the brand’s reliability rating.” (Consumer Reports factors factor quality issues that require repair into our reliability calculations, but they are not weighted as heavily as more serious issues, such as engine, transmission or drivetrain problems.)
This year’s survey data shows that hybrids continue to be among the most reliable vehicle types: Hybrids have 26 percent fewer problems than conventional models, despite having both a conventional powertrain and an electric motor, meaning more potential problem points than conventional cars.
“It may not have been that long ago, but Toyota launched the Prius Hybrid about 25 years ago,” says Elek. “Automakers have been making hybrid vehicles long enough that they’ve gotten really good at it. “In addition, many hybrid vehicles are also manufactured by manufacturers that generally produce more reliable vehicles, such as Toyota, Hyundai and Kia.”
Hybrid vehicles also typically don’t come with high-tech features like multiple customizable displays that can be problematic, making them a great option for drivers more interested in optimal fuel economy performance than bells and whistles, according to Fisher. “These vehicles aren’t necessarily a feat of engineering, so there’s just less chance of things going wrong with them,” he says.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which have both a battery for short-distance electric trips and an internal combustion engine for long-distance trips, are the least reliable category – 146 percent more problems than conventional cars. “PHEVs are kind of like an electric vehicle and a conventional car in one, so by their nature more things can go wrong with them,” says Fisher.
For example, the conventional version of the Chrysler Pacifica minivan has a reliability rating high enough to be re-recommended this year. However, the reliability rating of the PHEV version of the Pacifica is well below average and the model is not recommended. “Issues with the hybrid drive and charging system lower the minivan’s reliability rating,” says Elek.
Fisher says there are always exceptions to these reliability trends, which is why it’s important to consider each model’s reliability rating before purchasing. “PHEVs as a class are unreliable, but the Toyota RAV4 Prime Plug-in Hybrid is one of the most reliable models in our survey this year. Likewise, the Ford F-150 Hybrid exhibits transmission and other issues that buck the trend of strong hybrid reliability.”
Unpacking the Consumer Reports Reliability Study
Photo credit: Fritz Hasler
Autoblog decided to take a look behind the numbers. It says Consumer Reports has revised its methodology for deriving predicted reliability ratings and updated its problem area questions to address specific issues in electric and electric vehicles. The results still confirm stereotypes that vehicles that have been on the market longer are generally more reliable and sedans are generally more reliable than SUVs and trucks.
There are 12 potential problem areas specifically for battery electrics, 17 potential problem areas for internal combustion engine vehicles, 19 for regular hybrid vehicles – the 17 ICE problems plus electric motor and battery pack – and 20 potential problem areas for PHEVs – the 19% from regular hybrid vehicles plus EV charging.
Brands were scored using the “weighted overall problem rate for all models within a brand for each model year,” combined with a brand’s average score from the 2021 to 2023 or 2024 model year, depending on how much information was available for 2024, combined with the CR Owner satisfaction survey and CR internal testing and safety data. The new equation means this year’s result cannot be compared to previous reliability rankings, Autoblog said.
Consumer Reports also grouped powertrains into one group when it came to reliability, where some issues crop up. Apparently electric vehicles had 79% more problems than gas-powered vehicles. This will undoubtedly lead to shocking headlines, but it is also misleading, says Autoblog. Most electric vehicles are new to the market, which goes back to the cliche mentioned earlier. Additionally, the availability of brands/models is much lower, meaning that simply averaging all models together will result in a few bad apples skewing the results.
Plug-in hybrids performed even worse in this analysis of powertrain-to-drivetrain reliability. On the other hand, there are only a few of them in the U.S., and two of them — the Audi Q5 and the Pacifica Hybrid — have abysmal reliability ratings that drag down the entire category.
The plug-in hybrids Toyota RAV4 Prime, Kia Sportage, BMW In other words, Autoblog concludes: “This is a lot more complicated than it seems.”
We recently reported that Ram is working on a PHEV pickup called the Ramcharger that uses nearly the same powertrain as the Pacifica Hybrid. It seems like a brilliant idea, but if it suffers from the same reliability issues as the Pacifica, it will be DOA when it arrives at dealers.
Taking that away
CleanTechnica has published many articles about the true cost of ownership of electric cars and concludes that they are almost always cheaper to purchase than their gasoline-powered cousins. We would like to point out that there is a big difference between an ill-fitting panel and a major drivetrain problem that renders a car undriveable.
Electric motors are rather simple devices and tend to last longer than internal combustion engines and transmissions, which consist of thousands of parts. We also suspect that electronic failures occur more frequently in electric cars equipped with sophisticated infotainment systems and autonomous driving software.
My wife and I have been driving exclusively electric cars for three years. So far we have spent virtually nothing on maintenance and repairs. $0.00. What are you saying? In my experience it is a small sample size which could skew the results? I couldn’t agree more, but the same goes for the Consumer Reports survey. Would you like our advice? Electric drive. Be happy!
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