Report from Europe’s largest automobile club, ADAC, points to fewer breakdowns in electric cars. Battery failures account for almost half of assistance, regardless of the type of engine.
The latest annual breakdown statistics report from the German Automobile Club (ADAC) shows that combustion engine vehicles have significantly more failures than electric cars.
There is a single component responsible for almost half of the cases, both in electrical and other cases: the starter battery.
According to the survey, carried out based on failures reported by ADAC users, electric cars are clearly more reliable than combustion vehicles — a result that had already been evident in the previous year’s statistics.
ADAC is the largest automobile club in Europe. At least one in four Germans is a member of the club, which is usually called when the driver has a breakdown in the vehicle.
For the current study, ADAC analyzed how many breakdown cases per thousand vehicles were recorded last year and, from there, calculated the so-called breakdown index (PKZ). 158 vehicle models were considered, from 27 manufacturers, all among the most frequently registered in Germany.
According to the data, an electric car with four years of use had a PKZ of 6.5, while combustion vehicles of the same age reached 12.5. The reason, according to the entity, is that the Electric cars have significantly fewer components subject to wear and tear.
Battery is the main cause of problems
By far, the most common cause of roadside assistance is a starter battery failure, regardless of the vehicle’s type of propulsion. Almost half in all cases is related to this problem.
In electric cars, ADAC also observed a significant proportion of faults associated with the electrical system on board. In this case, the failure rate is even higher than that of combustion vehicles, something that ADAC experts attribute to the more complex on-board electronics of electric cars.
In combustion vehicles, typical failures involve transmission or fuel system components.
Generally speaking, the older the vehicle, the more likely it is to break down. Even so, older vehicles are becoming increasingly reliable.
“A vehicle with ten years of use had, in 2015, a probability of breakdown of 6.5% — in 2025, this rate dropped to just 3.1%,” stated the ADAC.
The fact that vehicles registered in Germany are, on average, increasingly older means that, despite this, the absolute number of assistances increases. Last year, ADAC provided assistance in almost 3.7 million cases.
Sales of electric cars have grown strongly in Germany in recent times. Of the almost 300,000 new vehicles registered in March, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt), 24% were 100% electric cars. Another 40% were hybrid vehicles, in which a battery complements the combustion engine.
