A charging station for electric vehicles in Cornwall, UK
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Electric vehicles (EVs) now last as long as petrol and diesel alternatives – and their improving reliability outpaces fossil fuel-powered cars each year because the technology is still maturing.
Robert Elliott at the University of Birmingham, UK, and his colleagues analysed nearly 300 million records from the UK’s compulsory roadworthiness test, called the MOT, which show the condition, age and mileage of vehicles on the road between 2005 and 2022. This covered some 29.8 million vehicles in total.
The results showed that EVs now have an average lifespan of more than 18.4 years, outlasting the average diesel vehicle at 16.8 years and almost matching the average petrol vehicle at 18.7 years. The average EV now covers 200,000 kilometres during its life, surpassing the 187,000 km clocked up by petrol counterparts but falling short of the 257,000 km that diesels reach on average.
Elliott says the results prove that electric cars aren’t only a viable alternative to petrol and diesel, but in some ways already beat them. The research also shows that long-term reliability is improving: the likelihood of an EV failing and ending up on the scrapheap in any given year is declining around twice as fast as it is for petrol vehicles and around six times as fast as for diesels.
“The early electric cars were not so good and they were not so reliable,” says Elliott. “But the main point, I think, is the technology is improving very rapidly.”
“We’re not environmental crusaders. We just want to give the facts. Electric cars and the batteries, they’re just living longer, and the technology is improving, and it would have improved again since this study,” he says.
Although the MOT data doesn’t include information about how much maintenance and repair vehicles require between tests, only their overall lifespan, other research from the US has shown that maintenance costs for electric cars are around $0.06 per mile, while for internal combustion engines the figure is $0.10 per mile.
Rachel Aldred at the University of Westminster, UK, says moving away from petrol and diesel vehicles will bring benefits in combating climate change and air pollution, but she stresses that EVs are no silver bullet.
“It’s still a very inefficient and limited solution,” says Aldred. “If most people are using a private motor vehicle to get around, then there’s a whole load of negatives around lack of physical activity, around road injuries and [residual] pollution as well – even though obviously it’s a lot better [than petrol or diesel vehicles].” Walking, or its equivalent, cycling and public transport should be the priority for people who can use those modes for trips, she says.
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