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EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#21

Post by tunap »

kube-system wrote: post #8
rrwo wrote: post #5

Interesting, since EVs supposedly have lower maintenance costs overall https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_maintenance.html > All-electric vehicles typically require less maintenance than conventional vehicles because: > The battery, motor, and associated electronics require little to no regular maintenance > - There are fewer fluids, such as engine oil, that require regular maintenance > - Brake wear is signif…

Maintenance reliability Maintenance is planned. Reliability issues are unplanned failures. An EV may have brakes that last longer and no oil changes, but some EV manufacturers are adding gimmicky and buggy electronics, or poorly designed body hardware that fails.

My cousin recently had a flat tire in her EV. Roadside Assistance did not have a spare, required an expensive tow & her day was a total loss. Dragging a toddler along made a stressful experience worse, as well. I did not previously realize most(?) EVs have no spare tire included.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#22

Post by FredPret »

kube-system wrote: post #15
njovin wrote: post #11

> And they found that for Tesla in particular, issues with body hardware, steering suspension, paint and trim, and climate systems on the models were of most concern. Rick and I tested the Model 3 a few years back and we found a lot of issues with fit and finish and parts on the inside of the car I wish they'd separate cosmetic issues from functional ones. IMO it's pointless to lump "paint is uneven" in with "steerin…

Paint is not a cosmetic issue, failing paint can cause mechanical failure due to corrosion. Improvements in automotive coatings is the number one reason that cars aren’t “worn out” at 5 years and 50,000 miles like they did in the 70s.

Still not the same category as engine failure though

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#23

Post by pwinnski »

Bostonian wrote: post #4

The government should not ban gas-powered vehicles and force people to buy the "least reliable vehicle type", as California and other states are doing.

California's ban doesn't start for new vehicles for 13 years. That's a very long time in this context.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#24

Post by formerly_proven »

kube-system wrote: post #15
njovin wrote: post #11

> And they found that for Tesla in particular, issues with body hardware, steering suspension, paint and trim, and climate systems on the models were of most concern. Rick and I tested the Model 3 a few years back and we found a lot of issues with fit and finish and parts on the inside of the car I wish they'd separate cosmetic issues from functional ones. IMO it's pointless to lump "paint is uneven" in with "steerin…

Paint is not a cosmetic issue, failing paint can cause mechanical failure due to corrosion. Improvements in automotive coatings is the number one reason that cars aren’t “worn out” at 5 years and 50,000 miles like they did in the 70s.

Every piece of metal on a modern car body is structural, so basically all corrosion is a structural/crash hazard!

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#25

Post by thereddaikon »

Kon-Peki wrote: post #7
Markoff wrote: post #2

Article: While demand for electric vehicles has surged in last two years, new data from Consumer Reports finding that EVs are among the least reliable cars in the auto industry. Pras Subramanian here with the details and Pras, clearly something that the auto industry doesn't necessarily want to hear. PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, you know, I was a little surprised to hear that. Because EVs, generally speaking, are simpler…

> So Consumer Reports put together 3 of their top hybrids here. The Lexus NX came out a few years ago in the premium luxury segment here. Very nice car, attractive car, good mileage there. The Ford Maverick. Now we actually had this truck. It is a small compact utility pickup truck. Unibody construction, 38 MPG with hybrid. Yeah. What's really surprising about the Ford Maverick rated so highly is not really that it's…

Affordable trucks have mostly disappeared. They have been climbing up the price brackets for a few generations now. Its gotten to the point that before the Maverick your choices were either absurdly expensive luxury truck or buying a trim meant for commercial use that has no features at all. There did not exist a normal truck anymore. Well, they did nominally. But good luck finding one for sale. Why sell lower tier F-150s when you can build them as Raptors and have a higher profit margin?

So the Maverick is popular not because of any great quality it has. But because there is a massive hole in the market. Reviews I have seen show it as fairly mediocre and generally less capable than previous cheap trucks.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#26

Post by kube-system »

Bostonian wrote: post #4

The government should not ban gas-powered vehicles and force people to buy the "least reliable vehicle type", as California and other states are doing.

These are 2022 models. No states are forcing people to buy these. California will be forcing people to buy the 2035 models, for which reliability ratings don’t yet exist

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#27

Post by lotsofpulp »

tunap wrote: post #21
kube-system wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maintenance reliability Maintenance is planned. Reliability issues are unplanned failures. An EV may have brakes that last longer and no oil changes, but some EV manufacturers are adding gimmicky and buggy electronics, or poorly designed body hardware that fails.

My cousin recently had a flat tire in her EV. Roadside Assistance did not have a spare, required an expensive tow & her day was a total loss. Dragging a toddler along made a stressful experience worse, as well. I did not previously realize most(?) EVs have no spare tire included.

Many new cars do not come with a spare either. I had a family friend I needed to help, and their Dodge caravan minivan, only came with an air pump that had a sealant to patch holes in the tire.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#28

Post by Gravityloss »

KaiserPro wrote: post #13

In Which magazine, EVs were about as reliable as normal cars, however if you removed tesla from the ratings, then EV reliability jumped significantly to way above standard petrol/diesel. https://www.which.co.uk/ has the details, but you need to be a member to find out. Basically the fit, finish and reliability of the accessories were trash.

I've seen the argument that "traditional auto makers" don't "get" how many people think - they concentrate on panel gaps or wind noise or door closing bump noise. Tesla isn't great there, but the Tesla software is good, and what some people call "kids" treat the car more like a smart phone. They don't care if your panel gaps are great - if your infotainment software is very laggy or crashes, it's a low quality car.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#29

Post by btbuildem »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #17

Is it not just the case that there simply hasn't been enough time to work out the kinks? The Tesla Model S is only ten years old. So my 20 year old bulletproof Japanese petrol car is twice the age of the entire class of modern day EVs. My petrol car could probably have done the first ten years of its' life with oil changes and nothing else at all. I mean, it's done the last few years that way. But there's been a cent…

For issues with drivetrain etc -- absolutely. But it seems that a lot of the problems center around fit and finish of the body of the vehicle, trim, accessories etc -- stuff the industry has decades of experience with. It really sounds like quality was sacrificed for efficiency there.

Re: EVs are the least reliable vehicle type: Consumer Reports

#30

Post by hotpotamus »

rrwo wrote: post #5

Interesting, since EVs supposedly have lower maintenance costs overall https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_maintenance.html > All-electric vehicles typically require less maintenance than conventional vehicles because: > The battery, motor, and associated electronics require little to no regular maintenance > - There are fewer fluids, such as engine oil, that require regular maintenance > - Brake wear is signif…

That makes sense, but I can't imagine that brake wear in particular moves the needle very much. I typically just change the brake pads every 60,000 miles or so and that's like a $50 expense if you buy the nice pads and new hardware set for my car. Of course, I don't drive some exotic car with carbon ceramic stuff that costs $8K to replace (my car seems to stop well enough regardless).
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