Seems likely, not having to contain rapid fire explosions.
this post was submitted on 05 May 2025
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Diesel are extremely reliable even though they contain rapid fire explosions.
This is true, because the compression limit and timings of ignition isnt as important with diesel.
That said, less complexity is better, so even diesel is out of the race :p
(And yes, ev's have a lot of complexity too. Not gonna deny it. Shits complex to keep stable m'key )
I've been driving a Nissan Leaf EV for more than 10 years at this point. I've put on about 70k miles of the over 90k miles it has on it.
Maintenance has been: 2x Tires. 3x Windshield wiper blades. 1x cabin air filter (because pollen). Replacing the radio that went bad. 1x Replaced the 12V battery ... I really can't think of anything else.
That's it. It doesn't even go through brake pads because the regen braking does most of the work unless I'm slamming on my brakes. = = = I don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet the average EV has nearly an order of magnitude fewer moving parts than a similar ICE vehicle. It just makes sense that there's less maintenance.
You should probably change the cabin filter more often than once a decade
My car doesn't even have one. lol
That’s… that’s not a positive thing. Like it’s not better without one. I mean, my car doesn’t, but that’s because it’s old
I wasn't one-upping you, bro... It's really not a competition, i promise.
I have the newer leaf and let me tell you:
These things are the worst cabin air filter design ever, changing it is nearly impossible without breaking something (the techs at the dealer couldn't even manage it), fuck the leaf air filter it's no surprise nobody changes it
If I remember to Google it I'll grab a video on how to change the stupid thing, it's horrible
Yeah, once a year minimum... After the pollen season at the very least, ideally more often than that.
A typical ice car only adds oil changes in that same 90k miles. Let me know how it is doing at 300k miles.
in my experience it is the body going that gets cars. Even my last one that I traded in a 250k miles because the transmission needed a 16k rebuild would have been worth the money if the body wasn't rusting away.
- Fuel pump.
- Radiator.
- Fuel injectors
- Valves.
- The entire exhaust system.
- O2 sensors
- Cam/crank position sensors
- Coils
- Spark plugs
- spark plug wires
- engine air filter
- Timing belt
- Accessory belt
At 100k miles? No.
The point isn't that you'd expect to replace any of those things at 100k Miles. But you might just get unlucky and one of those things break. If it's there, it can go bad, even if it probably won't. Electric cars
I'm fully on board with the idea that EVs have less moving parts and are therefore more reliable. The only real time bomb in that EV is the battery. I'm just also in agreement that ICE vehicles don't usually have any real issues in the first 100k miles.
I must have been buying the wrong brands for the last few decades, because that is NOT my experience. My experience is that ICE cars get REALLY unreliable beyond the ten year mark. Expensive unreliable. To many trips to the garage unreliable.
I haven't owned my non-Tesla EV for that long, but I've had more fun and pleasure driving that car in the last three years than I had driving petrol and diesel cars for the last thirty years.
A car is usually driven over 10k miles per year. 10 years would typically be beyond that 100k miles.
I normally get a low-mileage single previous owner second hand car that's a few years old so I'm not paying thousands just for a fresh car smell, and run it until it starts getting annoying and expensive, when I trade it in for a newer model.
10 years is my experience as well. However the vast majority of those problems are not related to the ICE (which is well protected from the elements in a closed system with good oil). A EV or ICE makes no difference to the body or suspension system.
However the vast majority of those problems are not related to the ICE
That is the complete opposite of my experience. In my experience the most frequent and expensive problems are related to the engine in an ICE car. Here are some problems I've had, and I don't think they're super rare, just a regular car showing its age:
- clutch seizing up (no gears in an EV),
- wheezy starter motor not starting the engine (no starter motor or engine in an EV),
- stalling way too often (after years of trouble-free hill starts) (EVs don't stall)
- alternator failing (no alternator in an EV)
- coolant boiling (no coolant in an EV)
- fan belt screeching (no fan belt in an EV, but admittedly that one was a long long time ago)
- squeaky brakes (only use the physical brakes in emergency braking in an EV)
Other problems I've had that could happen to any car:
- blown lightbulbs
- blown fuses
- tracking is off
- tyres wearing out
- proximity sensor failure
- aircon failure
Even the bottom two, which weren't cheap, were still not as expensive or as complicated as the ICE shit I've tolerated over the years. My services cost me significantly less and there's rarely any work to do.
A EV or ICE makes no difference to the body or suspension system.
I've literally never got rid of a car because of body or suspension problem - the engine has cost me too much stress, money and time, way, way, way before the body is shot or the suspension is failing. My uncle got rid of a car because of a bodywork issue, but he had had so much work done on it and had so many failed MOTs I don't know why he didn't trade up years earlier.
I'm just also in agreement that ICE vehicles don't usually have any real issues in the first 100k miles.
Ive never seen a car hit 100k that didn't have to swing by the mechanic for something other than an oil change
2 Toyotas, a Pontiac, a Kia, 2 Nissan Altima, 3 Chevy shit boxes, and the one guy I knew who bought a smart car for some fucking reason. Every single one went in for a repair other than oil, related to the engine, before 100k miles
- clutch
- transmission
- bearings
- alternator
- starter
- differential clutches
- final driver gear maintenance
- u joints
- valve cover gaskets
- thermostat
Or electronics. A fair chunk of stuff in scrappies is there because of electrical faults. I feel like that might be inherent in electrical cars too…
Oil changes and frequent visits to the petrol/gas station. I just plug in my car in my driveway every night and I'm golden.
This does not help people who rent or don't have a driveway. This a significant portion of the United States. Cannot charge a car when you have no place to charge it and sitting for an hour or 2 at a super charger is much more of a waste in time than filling up a car at a gasoline station.
Totally agree, that's a huge issue that needs to be solved. Apartment complexes need to start putting in more outlets - they don't even need to be L2.
Those who have to park on the streets will be a tougher challenge.
Oil changes are cheap and don't happen very often. Gas is expensive but at least it is readily available and fast. EV chargers are common, but not in all the places where gas stations are and so sometimes not where you need one. No EV yet charges as fast as I can fill a tank of petro. If you never go on road trips you may not care, but since I do road trips this matters to me.
Yes plugging my EV in every time I get home saves me from visiting the petro station often. (I have a plug in hybrid)
Our second car is a plug-in but l hybrid for road trips. Agree, that's a useful case for ICE, but that car costs us far more to drive than our EV.
90% of personal driving (I'm ballpark guessing) is in town and can be handled by charging an EV overnight every few days by most drivers - doesn't even have to be nightly.
At least in the US there are not good options though. Since a minivan is the right vehcile for our family we get a new id.buzz, or for half the price a used pacifica (which we were lucky to find at all). Everything else is ICE. I don't know how anyone can afford a new car - I make more than the average person and the payments on the used minivan are already hard.
I feel like using teslas as the pic for this was somewhat misguided - they regularly rank as one of the least reliable cars going. That’s a trend not shared by most EVs. Also, manufacturer plays a big part - Lexus, Toyota, Mazda, and Honda top the reliability charts, whatever power they use, and a lot of the lower-ranked manufacturers don’t produce many, or any, EVs. That makes me think that power source isn’t the sole contributing factor.
I feel like using teslas as the pic for this was somewhat misguided - they regularly rank as one of the least reliable cars going.
It depends on the segment and time range and market. MotorEasy conducted a survey in 2024 in the U.K. with 29,967 respondents. The Tesla Model Y was the 9th (equal) most reliable car. However Teslas tend to fare poorly in the Consumer Reports survey in the U.S. I suspect one of the reasons for the discrepancy between this market and the U.S. is that the U.K. received Tesla shipments a lot later for new models - years, in fact. This gave Tesla time to iron out first-model issues. Another is potentially the location of manufacture. Most Teslas sold in the U.K. come from China and Germany. Most Teslas sold in the U.S. come from Fremont, California. There were widespread reports of strange manufacturing practises at the Fremont plan during the covid outbreak, like spray-painting cars in makeshift tents.
Interestingly, MotorEasy found that gas and hybrids were the most reliable. Diesel were the least reliable.
A lot of what people have heard about being one of the least reliable cars is from the mandatory inspections in Germany.
If there's any rust on your brakes, the car fails the inspection. Teslas have some pretty aggressive and good regen/one pedal driving so people don't use the brakes often. You're supposed to use the brakes with some heavy braking to help clear it over time. People don't do this, they take the car in, and it fails since it has some rust on it. Just using the brakes would clear it though.
The earlier Model 3 also had a problem with the front suspension which could cause a fail, there's a service bulletin on that one.
The Model S also had some air suspension issues, but from my understanding, who doesn't have air suspension issues (but I might be wrong)
Take those things, add on all the other small quantity issues, and it was ranked one of if not the worst vehicle the 1st year they were coming up to the age inspections were required.
I mean... obviously. There are much less moving parts in an EV, and therefore, much less to break.
I'm surprised this wasn't already news 10 years ago.
Define reliable? You can start any old combustion engine after 50years sitting in a field, with a bit of lube.
And now the new ones need a million things to be right in order to work properly. Shit changed
just not the death trap teslas
Obviously the gas-powered cars are useless if you don’t eat enough beans to power them.
Ha. If Teslas are included in the average, the other EVs must be really reliable.