Original analysis
Are electric cars more reliable?
Not at the MOT. Compare cars of the same age and electric cars fail more often than petrol, diesel or hybrid ones: 19.1% of first attempts for cars aged 3 to 10 in 2025, against 15.6% for petrol and 11.2% for hybrids. The extra failures are tyres and suspension.
Hybrid
11.2%
fail rate, aged 3 to 10
Petrol
15.6%
fail rate, aged 3 to 10
Diesel
18.2%
fail rate, aged 3 to 10
Electric
19.1%
fail rate, aged 3 to 10
From 30.7 million MOT tests on cars and light vans in 2025. Each fuel type is weighted to the same age mix, so an older fleet can’t be mistaken for a worse one. 2024 gives 19.9% electric, 18.8% diesel, 16.1% petrol and 11.2% hybrid: the same order.
Electric cars fail more than petrol at every age
Taken as a whole, electric cars look like the reliable choice: 12.3% of their MOTs failed in 2025, against 22.2% for petrol and 25.3% for diesel. That’s almost entirely age. Most electric cars on the road are under 6, and young cars of any kind pass. Line them up by age and the electric line sits above petrol and hybrid at every age we can measure. Diesel fails more than electric up to about 6 years old, then drops below it.
| Age | Electric | Diesel | Petrol | Hybrid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 10.7% | 12.6% | 7.9% | 7.2% |
| 4 | 11.6% | 13.3% | 9.4% | 8.3% |
| 5 | 14.2% | 14% | 11.2% | 8.5% |
| 6 | 15.1% | 15.6% | 13.4% | 9.8% |
| 7 | 18.3% | 17.6% | 15.6% | 11.7% |
| 8 | 21.8% | 19.9% | 18.2% | 12.7% |
| 9 | 26.9% | 22.7% | 20.8% | 13.8% |
| 10 | 28.3% | 25.4% | 23.1% | 15% |
| 11 | 31.2% | 27.9% | 25.6% | 15.7% |
What electric cars fail on
The MOT doesn’t test batteries, motors or charging, so this isn’t a measure of the drivetrain. It measures the parts that wear. At 3 to 6 years old, electric cars failed on tyres 1.7 times as often as petrol cars and on suspension 1.8 times as often. They failed on brakes about half as often.
| Failures per 100 tests, aged 3 to 6 | Electric | Petrol | Diesel | Hybrid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 7.73 | 4.57 | 4.91 | 4.37 |
| Suspension | 2.64 | 1.44 | 2.36 | 1.06 |
| Brakes | 1.32 | 2.42 | 3.4 | 1.18 |
| Lights and electrics | 1.58 | 1.34 | 2.86 | 1.32 |
| Visibility (wipers, screen) | 1.65 | 1.78 | 2.32 | 1.57 |
| Emissions and leaks | 0.01 | 0.56 | 1.68 | 0.18 |
| Steering | 0.31 | 0.4 | 0.37 | 0.14 |
The specific defects make the pattern plainer. Per 1,000 tests at the same ages:
| Defect | Electric | Petrol | Diesel | Hybrid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyre cords showing | 22.4 | 7.8 | 10.4 | 9.7 |
| Tyre cut too deep | 27.3 | 15.2 | 15.9 | 17.5 |
| Tread below the legal limit | 20 | 13.9 | 16.4 | 10.3 |
| Worn suspension ball joint | 6.9 | 2.4 | 5.7 | 1.2 |
| Brake pad under 1.5mm | 1.6 | 15.1 | 19.8 | 4.3 |
Measured: tyre cords showing through the rubber turn up 2.9 times as often on electric cars, and brake pads worn under 1.5mm about 9 times less often. Our reading, not something the data proves: electric cars are heavier and deliver their torque instantly, which is hard on tyres and suspension joints, and regenerative braking does much of the stopping, which spares the pads. If you run an electric car, the tyres are the thing to check before the test.
Could something else explain it?
Mileage
Electric cars do cover more ground: 24% of those tested at 3 to 10 years old averaged over 13,000 miles a year, against 5% of petrol cars. So we compared cars of the same age and the same yearly mileage. Electric cars still failed most, at 19.5%, against 17.2% for petrol, 16.5% for diesel and 11% for hybrids. Matched on mileage, diesel cars fail slightly less than petrol ones, so diesel’s higher headline rate is mostly the miles it does. Electric’s isn’t. All four rates sit higher than the headline figures because the shared mix now gives more weight to high-mileage cars, which fail more whatever they run on.
Tesla
Teslas make up 21% of electric cars tested at these ages. Take them out and electric cars fail 19.3%, against 19.1% with them in. One brand isn’t driving the result.
Which models happen to be electric
The cleanest test is the same car with a different power source. Where a model sells in electric and petrol or hybrid form, the electric version failed more often in 9 of 14 cases and less often in 3. The gap is widest on the Vauxhall Corsa: 19.8% electric against 11.6% petrol. It isn’t the same everywhere. Electric models range from 6.6% to 18.3% at 3 to 5 years old (below), a wider spread than the gap between any two fuel types.
| Model | Compared with | Electric | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kia Niro | hybrid | 9.8% | 8.3% |
| Hyundai Kona | petrol | 9.6% | 9.5% |
| Hyundai Kona | hybrid | 9.5% | 11% |
| MG ZS | petrol | 13.7% | 14.3% |
| MINI Cooper | petrol | 9.9% | 8.6% |
| MINI Cooper | hybrid | 9.6% | 9.9% |
| Vauxhall Corsa | petrol | 19.8% | 11.6% |
| Peugeot 208 | petrol | 18.8% | 12.1% |
| Peugeot 2008 | petrol | 12.3% | 9.8% |
| Hyundai Ioniq | hybrid | 8.1% | 9.9% |
| Vauxhall Mokka | petrol | 11.7% | 10.5% |
| Volvo XC40 | petrol | 11.4% | 8.5% |
| Volvo XC40 | hybrid | 11.1% | 6.1% |
| Lexus UX | hybrid | 4.1% | 3.2% |
Aged 3 to 6, each pair weighted to the same age mix. Model names are DVSA’s, grouped to the model family.
The most reliable electric cars at the MOT
Every electric model with at least 300 tests at each age from 3 to 5, weighted to the same age mix. A petrol car at those ages failed 8.9% on average, so the models near the top do as well as petrol cars or better.
| Model | Fail rate | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| Jaguar I-PACE | 6.6% | 16,552 |
| BMW i3 | 7.2% | 10,543 |
| Honda e | 7.5% | 1,625 |
| Hyundai Ioniq Electric | 8.1% | 7,331 |
| smart EQ fortwo | 8.1% | 2,842 |
| Porsche Taycan | 8.4% | 8,556 |
| Audi e-tron | 8.5% | 15,073 |
| Kia e-Soul | 8.7% | 2,369 |
| Nissan Leaf | 8.9% | 21,865 |
| Kia e-Niro | 9.2% | 30,022 |
| MINI Cooper Electric | 9.4% | 13,257 |
| Hyundai Kona Electric | 9.4% | 14,390 |
| Volkswagen ID.3 | 9.7% | 20,369 |
| Renault Zoe | 10.8% | 15,032 |
| Peugeot e-2008 | 11.9% | 8,704 |
| MG ZS EV | 12.6% | 14,692 |
| Polestar 2 | 13.4% | 8,621 |
| Tesla Model 3 | 14% | 69,345 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQC | 14.7% | 9,565 |
| Peugeot e-208 | 16.9% | 9,775 |
| Vauxhall Corsa Electric | 18.3% | 10,606 |
Newer models such as the Tesla Model Y aren’t old enough to have 3 years of tests yet. For any model’s own figures, see MOT pass rates by model.
Hybrids fail least
The quiet result here is hybrids. They failed least at every age, 11.2% across 3 to 10, and they held that after adjusting for mileage. They fail on brakes even less than petrol cars do, and on tyres about as often. This uses DVSA’s “hybrid electric” fuel type, which doesn’t say whether a car plugs in.
Questions
Are electric cars more reliable than petrol cars?
Not at the MOT, once you compare cars of the same age. Across cars aged 3 to 10 in 2025, electric cars failed 19.1% of first MOT attempts, diesel 18.2%, petrol 15.6% and hybrids 11.2%. 2024 shows the same order.
Why do electric cars look reliable in other figures?
Because most of them are young, and young cars pass. Taken as a whole, without adjusting for age, electric cars failed 12.3% of MOTs in 2025 against 22.2% for petrol. Compare cars of the same age and the order flips.
What do electric cars fail the MOT on?
Tyres and suspension, far more than other cars. At 3 to 6 years old, electric cars failed on tyres 1.7 times as often as petrol cars and on suspension 1.8 times as often. They failed on brakes about half as often, and almost never on emissions.
Is it just because electric cars do more miles?
No. They do cover more: 24% of electric cars tested were averaging over 13,000 miles a year, against 5% of petrol cars. But comparing cars of the same age and the same yearly mileage, electric cars still failed 19.5% against 17.2% for petrol.
Which electric car is most reliable at the MOT?
Of the electric models with enough tests at 3 to 5 years old, the Jaguar I-PACE failed least, at 6.6%. The Vauxhall Corsa Electric failed most, at 18.3%. A petrol car of the same ages failed 8.9% on average.
Do electric cars need an MOT?
Yes. An electric car needs its first MOT by the third anniversary of its registration and one every year after that, the same as a petrol or diesel car. GOV.UK lists goods vehicles powered by electricity and registered before 1 March 2015 as exempt; electric cars aren't. There's no exhaust emissions check, but everything else is tested.
How we worked this out
From DVSA’s anonymised MOT test results for 2024 and 2025: class 4 normal tests (cars and light vans) with a pass, fail or fixed-at-station result. A fail is a first-attempt fail; cars fixed at the station within the hour count as passes, as they do everywhere else on this site. Age is whole years from first use to the test. Fuel types are DVSA’s own. Every comparison weights the fuel types to one shared age mix, covering the ages where every fuel type has at least 2,000 tests. Failure sections and defects come from DVSA’s test item records for 2025. Analysis run 26 Sep 2026. Related: brand reliability, age for age and whether cars are getting more reliable.
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data, Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT rules from GOV.UK.