TLDR: A study by Consumer Reports found that found that across the industry EVs tended to have higer rates of reported reliability issues compared to conventional gas cars. The authors contribute this to the large number of new EVs models that have come out in the last few years as well as new car companies, and doubt that it has much to do with the drivetrain technology itself.
Interesting they also found that hybrids were 26% more reliable than conventional gas cars dispite the addition of an electric drive train. Even more oddly with that information they found that plug in hybrids were the worst, at 146% worse than conventional gas, though note that the Rav4 plug in version was one of the most reliable vehicles surveyed.
“Most electric cars today are being manufactured by either legacy automakers that are new to EV technology, or by companies like Rivian that are new to making cars,” says Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing at Consumer Reports. “It’s not surprising that they’re having growing pains and need some time to work out the bugs.”
“While Tesla’s EV components are generally reliable, the company continues to struggle with the build quality of its vehicles,” says 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 a lot of build quality issues including irregular paint, broken trim, door handles that don’t work, and trunks that don’t close. All of these pull down the brand’s reliability score.”-
So TLDR of the TLDR, expect manufacturers new models to have teething issues, especially if not owned by Toyoda, Hyundai, or Kia.
This tracks with my anecdotal experience. The EV drivetrain on my 2017 model 3 has been bulletproof, but I’ve had plenty of issues with Tesla’s poor build quality in other areas. Here are the notable examples:
Tesla had to replace two control arm joints that were poorly designed and didn’t seal out water, so they started squeaking/creaking extremely loudly
Two repeater camera assemblies that also didn’t seal against water well enough and stopped working
A faulty frunk actuator that locked the frunk shut (no, there’s no manual release except from inside the frunk lol). I don’t keep anything too valuable in there now.
So many software bug fixes. I’ll add to that, the original Intel computer just wasn’t good enough for this car needs it to do and it shows.
Honestly this isn’t too much worse than some of my ICE car experiences. I had a brand new Subaru Crosstrek which just kept going back for software updates (not having OTA or at-home usb updates SUCKS) as well as a pair of recalls around the engine. In one of those, the Subaru dealer nearly destroyed my engine by fucking up the timing chain alignment entirely on their own. Fun times.
TLDR: A study by Consumer Reports found that found that across the industry EVs tended to have higer rates of reported reliability issues compared to conventional gas cars. The authors contribute this to the large number of new EVs models that have come out in the last few years as well as new car companies, and doubt that it has much to do with the drivetrain technology itself.
Interesting they also found that hybrids were 26% more reliable than conventional gas cars dispite the addition of an electric drive train. Even more oddly with that information they found that plug in hybrids were the worst, at 146% worse than conventional gas, though note that the Rav4 plug in version was one of the most reliable vehicles surveyed.
So TLDR of the TLDR, expect manufacturers new models to have teething issues, especially if not owned by Toyoda, Hyundai, or Kia.
This tracks with my anecdotal experience. The EV drivetrain on my 2017 model 3 has been bulletproof, but I’ve had plenty of issues with Tesla’s poor build quality in other areas. Here are the notable examples:
Tesla had to replace two control arm joints that were poorly designed and didn’t seal out water, so they started squeaking/creaking extremely loudly
Two repeater camera assemblies that also didn’t seal against water well enough and stopped working
A faulty frunk actuator that locked the frunk shut (no, there’s no manual release except from inside the frunk lol). I don’t keep anything too valuable in there now.
So many software bug fixes. I’ll add to that, the original Intel computer just wasn’t good enough for this car needs it to do and it shows.
Honestly this isn’t too much worse than some of my ICE car experiences. I had a brand new Subaru Crosstrek which just kept going back for software updates (not having OTA or at-home usb updates SUCKS) as well as a pair of recalls around the engine. In one of those, the Subaru dealer nearly destroyed my engine by fucking up the timing chain alignment entirely on their own. Fun times.