Latest EVs last just as long as petrol cars according to new study

Today’s electric cars last just as long as petrol and diesel cars, a new international study has found. Over 260 million MoT records for 30 million cars from 2005 to 2022 were analysed to see whether EVs could match their combustion-powered counterparts for longevity, and the findings show that there was little between them.

The researchers from the University of Birmingham, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of California San Diego and University of Bern concluded that electric vehicles today have an expected lifespan of 18.4 years, compared to 18.7 years for petrol cars and 16.4 years for diesel cars. Electric cars also typically cover more miles than petrol cars in their life, averaging 124,000 miles before they’re scrapped.

The study highlighted that this wasn’t the case for early electric cars, which tended to have a shorter lifespan than combustion-engined cars. However, electric cars saw a 12% year-on-year improvement in reliability from 2005 to 2022, far greater than the improvement for petrol and diesel cars. The researchers suggested that this was because electric cars are still a fairly new technology with lots of early issues that were quickly resolved.

Out of the electric cars analysed, Tesla was the best performing brand in terms of longevity, with an average lifespan of over 20 years, while Mercedes lagged behind at around 16 years. For petrol and diesel, the frontrunners were Audi and Skoda, respectively.

While the study claimed that early EVs “offered little environmental benefits given their limited lifespan and use”, it showed that that may no longer be the case. Robert Elliott, Professor of Economics at the University of Birmingham, explained that “a long-lasting electric vehicle can quickly offset its carbon footprint, contributing to the fight against climate change – making them a more sustainable long-term option”.

The study went on to conclude that “if the trends estimated in this study persist, the TCO [total cost of ownership] and environmental advantages of upcoming BEV [battery electric vehicle] models could far exceed previous estimations”.

You can read our run-down of the top 10 best electric SUVs here…