For starters, i don’t consider the daily fail as a reliable resource. For anything.
Secondly, this is incredibly misleading. Did you read this part:
“While the report painted an unreliable picture for pure electric models, Which? concedes that most faults reported are software issues rather than serious problems with batteries or parts of the drivetrain that powers the vehicle. This means most issues are likely with infotainment screens and other electrical features, such as reversing cameras.”
At face value, this already disarms your argument. But if you’re a bit like me, you’ll notice the language they used there.
“Which? concedes that most faults aren’t serious”. Does that not strike you as odd?
The problem with your statistic is that it’s skewed, and Which? does in fact admit it. The problem with the survey is that a lot of people drive a Tesla, for a multitude of reasons. The problem here is that Teslas are dogshoot. The problems with Teslas aren’t inherent to electric cars, they’re inherent to Teslas.
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‘We also have to look at the ownership in the survey. Year on year, Tesla comes up as one the most fault prone, unreliable car manufacturers thanks to feedback from current owners – we’ve called on the brand for two years running to recall its Model S.
‘Tesla is also, by far, the most owned brand of electric car in our survey (its Model 3 was the most sold electric car in the UK last year, according to data from industry body the SMMT). This means any average measure of EV reliability is influenced by this brand thanks to its popularity.’”
So, no. EVs aren’t less reliable. It’s like arguing that petrol SUVs are unreliable because “Range Rover” exists. Take the, in every aspect awful, Teslas out of the picture and you get a different one. Indeed, yet again, Which? says the same:
“As more manufacturers release electric cars onto our roads (including models from Toyota and Lexus, which are long term leaders in car reliability), it’s likely that these figures will shift as the EV market truly establishes itself.”
As a suggestion, look at the What Car survey, which looks at particular cars rather than just mashing them all together. If you take the Tesla out of the equation, the numbers become noticeably different.