Electric cars now last as long as petrol and diesel counterparts

Electric vehicles (EVs) are so far alternatives to gasoline and diesel, and their reliability outpaces fossil fuel-powered cars every year because the technology is still maturing.

Robert Elliott At the University of Birmingham, UK, and colleagues analyzed nearly 300 million records from the UK’s mandatory road test, called – RantzShowing the condition, age and mileage of vehicles between 2005 and 2022. This covered a total of about 29.8 million vehicles.

The results showed that EVs have an average lifespan of more than 18.4 years, beating the average diesel vehicle at 16.8 years and the average gas station vehicle at nearly 18.7 years. The average EV has 200,000 kilometers in its lifetime, surpassing the 187,000 km that gasoline averages reach at 257,000 km.

Elliott says the results prove that electric cars are not a viable alternative to gasoline and diesel, but in some ways they already beat them. Research also shows that long-term reliability is improved: it avoids failure and termination of the scraftap in a given year. For diesel vehicles and is decreasing six times as fast.

“The early cars weren’t as good and they weren’t as reliable,” says Elliott. “But, I think, I think the technology is improving very quickly.”

“We are not cross environmentalists. We want to give the facts. Electric cars and batteries, they live longer, and the technology is improving, and it would improve again since this study was done,” he said.

MOT data does not necessarily include maintenance and repair information on vehicles between tests, only for their lifetime, Other US studies have shown Maintenance costs for electric cars are about $0.06 per mile, for internal combustion engines, the figure is $0.10 per mile.

Rachel Aldred At the University of Westminster, the UK’s move away from petrol stations and diesel will bring benefits on climate change and air pollution, but insists EVS is not a silver bullet.

“It’s still a very effective and limited solution,” says Aldatut. “If most people use a private motor vehicle, there is a whole load of negatives around lack of physical activity, road injuries and (residual) pollution as well, although it is obviously much better (than petrol or diesel) vehicles ) “Walking, or its equivalent, bicycles and public transport should be a priority for people who can use these modes of travel, he said.