The figures come from American Consumer Reportswhich has conducted one of the world’s largest car reliability surveys.
The owners of 330,000 cars of the last three model years were asked about the reliability of their cars.
Electric cars and plug-in hybrids have more problems
It turns out that, on average, electric cars have 79 percent more problems than gasoline cars of the same year.
It looks even worse for plug-in hybrids, which on average have 146 percent more problems than an average gasoline car.
This is perhaps not surprising, as a plug-in hybrid combines an electric powertrain with a traditional internal combustion engine, adding to the complexity.
Somewhat unexpectedly, however, it turns out that, according to the survey, non-rechargeable hybrids have 26 percent fewer problems than an average gasoline car.
Several quality marks at the bottom
The survey also provides data on which car brands are towed with the most and least problems, and somewhat surprisingly, several traditional quality brands are at the bottom of the list.
Perhaps the most surprising brand on the list is Mercedes-Benz, which according to the survey builds the second most problematic cars on the market.
The most problematic cars are manufactured by Chrysler, while the third place from the bottom is occupied by the newly started electric car company Rivian.
Volvo does not get a top rating either, and is the sixth least reliable brand on the list. At the other end of the list, with the most reliable cars, we find sister brands Lexus and Toyota.
Toyota stands out
According to Jake Fisher, who is senior director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports, the numbers may be because electrification is a relatively new area for automakers.
Those who manufacture electric cars and plug-in hybrids are mainly start-up companies, or older brands that have relatively recently begun investing in electrification.
The Toyota RAV4 is an unusually reliable plug-in hybrid. Photo: Joel Sandberg
In other words, in many cases it can be about childhood diseases, which can also explain why the pure hybrids are so reliable.
Pure hybrids are primarily built by brands like Toyota, which generally have a good reputation for reliability and at this point have been producing hybrid cars in various forms for many years.
It may also be the reason why the Toyota RAV4 PHEV is one of the most reliable car models on the market – despite being a plug-in hybrid.
Consistent with our experience
That electric cars and plug-in hybrids are more problematic is also something that is becoming increasingly clear to us car journalists.
Of the factory new cars we test, the electric cars and plug-in hybrids are definitely overrepresented when it comes to causing problems.
It’s not always a matter of problems with the powertrains, but it can also be that other equipment malfunctions or exhibits bugs and lack of quality control.
This could be an indication that the car manufacturers are not only having trouble developing reliable powertrains for their electric cars, but that this is also taking resources from other parts of the business.