Many Americans who were thinking about getting an electric vehicle have decided not to get one, as shown by Ford slashing production of its F-150 Lightning and pushing off significant EV manufacturing investments as other automakers do much the same thing and slash their EV units. Numerous problems with EVs might be to blame, including a dramatically higher problem rate.
Some of the issues with EVs have been understood for years. The charging times, particularly without a speedier Level 2 charger, make road trips difficult, a problem exacerbated by the relatively short range. The batteries are highly expensive to replace. The cars themselves are often more expensive than combustion-powered vehicles of a similar type, as shown by the Lightning being about $10,000 more expensive than a super cab F-150.
And now Consumer Reports is reporting that electric vehicles suffer more frequent malfunctions than combustion-powered vehicles, making them more expensive to own and maintain. That problem is exacerbated by the expensive home charging infrastructure many get to make the charging problem less of an issue for daily commutes.
Reporting on the problems that plug-in hybrid cars and electric vehicles have (non-plug-in hybrids are more reliable than internal combustion engine vehicles), the report noted that both plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles have significant reliability and maintenance problems compared to internal combustion engine vehicles.
Noting the issues of plug-in hybrids, Consumer Reports said, “Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are more of a mixed bag. As a category, they have 146 percent more problems than ICE vehicles. Several PHEVs are even less reliable than their conventional counterparts, such as the below-average Audi Q5 and Chrysler Pacifica. The latter has the lowest score in our survey, at 14.”
Then, noting the problems of electric vehicles, it said, “Electric cars and electric SUVs don’t fare much better, with average reliability scores of 44 and 43, respectively. At the bottom of our vehicle-type rankings are electric pickup trucks, with an average score of 30.” Explaining the particular problem areas, Consumer Reports noted that the main issues with EVs so far seem to be the EV drive system motors, EV charging systems, and EV batteries.
Jake Fisher, the senior director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, noted that the automaker still need to sort out the “growing pains” and initial “kinks” of the relatively new and unmatured EV technology, saying, “This story is really one of growing pains. It’s a story of just working out the bugs and the kinks of new technology.”
Continuing, Fisher added, “If all the manufacturers had been building electric cars for 100 years, and then suddenly one of them decided to build an internal combustion engine with a transmission, it’d be riddled with problems.”
Regardless of the reason for them, the reliability issues will, Consumer Reports notes, likely be another issue keeping potential buyers from purchasing an EV instead of an internal combustion engine vehicle, particularly when the other problems, such as high costs, sometimes scarce charging stations, and painfully long charging times, are taken into account.
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