U.S. owners of electric vehicles have been experiencing on average more problems with their cars than the owners of vehicles with the traditional internal combustion engines, Consumer Reports said in its annual ranking of brand reliability.
This year, Lexus, Toyota, and Mini are found to be the three most reliable brands in CR's auto reliability brand rankings, with the two Japanese brands swapping spaces from last year.
This year Consumer Reports addressed the rapidly growing number of electrified offerings that automakers are producing: hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEV), and electric vehicles (EV). As a result, CR added three new trouble areas: electric motor, EV/hybrid battery, and EV charging.
Comparing the average electrified powertrains to gasoline-powered vehicles, CR found that out of 20 trouble areas, hybrids have, on average, 26% fewer problems than gas vehicles.
However, EVs have 79% more problems than gasoline vehicles and plug-in hybrids fare even worse, with 146% more problems than gas vehicles.
"As more EVs hit the marketplace and automakers build each model in greater numbers, we are seeing that some of them have problems with the EV drive system motors, EV charging systems, and EV batteries (which are different from the low-power 12-volt batteries that power accessories)," Consumer Reports said.
"Owners of the Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E, Genesis GV60, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia Niro EV and EV6, Subaru Solterra, Toyota bZ4X, and Volkswagen ID.4 all reported some of these issues."
Earlier this week, a group of U.S. car dealers warned the Biden Administration that most U.S. car buyers aren't interested in purchasing electric vehicles, incentives or not.
In a letter addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden, the group asks the Administration to pump the brakes on federal regulations that would require two-thirds of all vehicles sold in the United States in 2032 to be electric-because it simply isn't what car buyers want, even with the current incentives.
"The reality is that electric vehicle demand today is not keeping up with the large influx of BEVs arriving at our dealerships prompted by the current regulations. BEVs are stacking up on our lots," the letter read in part.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More