Do electric cars fail their MOT less?

Updated 25 Sep 2026 · Release dvsa-2024-v2

No — at the same age they fail more. Electric cars fail 12.3% of their MOTs against 22.2% for petrol, which looks decisive until you notice that the electric fleet averages 4.3 years old and the petrol fleet 10.4. Standardise for age and the ranking inverts: electric scores 109.6 where 100 is normal for the age, petrol 96.2. The clear winner is neither — it is the petrol hybrid at 70.6.

MOT Risk Index by fuel type, adjusted for age (2024)
Fuel	Index (100 = normal for age)	95% interval	Raw % failing	Average age	Initial tests 2024
Petrol hybrid	70.6	70.2–70.9	10.2%	5.9 yrs	1,329,058
Petrol	96.2	96.1–96.3	22.2%	10.4 yrs	17,282,567
Diesel	106.4	106.3–106.5	25.0%	10.3 yrs	13,445,418
Electric	109.6	108.7–110.5	12.3%	4.3 yrs	442,128

Index is indirect standardisation: observed failures divided by the failures expected if this fuel had the national failure rate at each age. Intervals are Byar approximations on the index itself.

Same age, different fuel: where the raw numbers break

Electric cars fail more than petrol at every age from three to eleven. The gap widens with age rather than closing: 10.3% against 8.2% at three years old, 28.0% against 23.2% at ten.

Solid line: electric, dashed line: petrol — percentage of initial tests that failed, plotted against age of car at test, years. The vertical axis runs to 36%; every plotted value is in the table below.

First-time MOT failure by age at test: electric against petrol (2024)
Age at test	Electric % failing	Electric tests	Petrol % failing	Petrol tests
3 years	10.3%	194,803	8.2%	886,883
4 years	11.3%	108,500	8.9%	970,589
5 years	13.3%	38,988	10.8%	1,484,672
6 years	15.3%	15,708	13.1%	1,425,635
7 years	17.9%	13,343	15.3%	1,297,216
8 years	22.8%	10,004	17.9%	1,252,508
9 years	26.9%	8,767	20.3%	1,208,776
10 years	28.0%	9,058	23.2%	1,097,468
11 years	33.2%	2,039	25.7%	1,003,616
12 years	24.8%	3,208	27.7%	865,696

What electric cars actually fail on

Tyres, and it is not close. Among cars 3–5 years old — where most of the electric fleet sits — electric cars pick up 11.38 tyre defects per 100 tests against 6.03 for petrol of the same age. That is 89% more, and the only other group where electric cars come off clearly worse is suspension (1.52 against 1.08).A heavier car delivering torque from a standstill wears its tyres faster, and the inspection sees it.

Tyre defects per 100 initial tests, cars 3–5 years old only.

Failure items per 100 tests by defect group and fuel (2024)
Defect group (per 100 tests, age 3–5)	Electric	Petrol	Diesel	Hybrid
Tyres	11.38	6.03	7.08	6.28
Visibility	4.62	4.97	7.63	5.13
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	2.21	2.12	5.7	1.96
Brakes	1.16	3.08	4.91	1.18
Suspension	1.52	1.08	2.19	0.85
Noise, emissions and leaks	0.01	0.51	1.57	0.17
Body, chassis, structure	0.31	0.43	1.4	0.24
Steering	0.18	0.51	0.34	0.14

Sample sizes in this window: petrol hybrid 726,943, petrol 3,342,144, diesel 1,649,368, electric 342,291 initial tests.

What this means if you are buying

Budget for tyres on an electric car, not for electrical faults. The failure that catches electric owners is the cheapest one to prevent and the easiest to check yourself before the test.

A used electric car is not a safer MOT bet than a used petrol one of the same age. If the seller points at a low failure rate for electric cars generally, that number is describing the age of the fleet, not the car in front of you.

If MOT outcomes are what you are optimising, the petrol hybrid is the strongest class on this data — index 70.6 across 1,329,058 tests, better than every other fuel at every age we can compare.

Where this number stops applying

This measures one thing: the chance of failing a roadworthiness inspection. It is not breakdown frequency, not repair cost and not owner-reported faults — those are different measurements and they can point the other way for the same car. Three further limits worth stating: the electric fleet is small and concentrated in a few models, so its numbers move with those models rather than with electric cars in general; cars aged eleven and over are thin on the electric side (2,039 tests at eleven) and the curve there is noisy; and hybrids here are petrol hybrids, with diesel hybrids reported separately because they behave differently.

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT tests and results, calendar 2024, class 4 initial tests only,data.gov.uk, snapshot taken 2026-07-30, released under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Release dvsa-2024-v2. Method: methodology.

MOT failure by fuel type: quick answers

Do electric cars fail their MOT less often than petrol cars?

No. They fail less often in raw numbers — 12.3% against 22.2% — but the electric fleet averages 4.3 years against 10.4 for petrol. Compare cars of the same age and electric fails more: at three years old 10.3% against 8.2%. Age-adjusted, electric scores 109.6 where 100 is normal for the age.

Why do electric cars fail their MOT?

Tyres, above everything else. Among cars 3–5 years old, electric cars pick up 11.38 tyre defects per 100 tests against 6.03 for petrol — 89% more, at the same age. Electric cars are heavier and deliver torque instantly, and tyres carry that. The other clear gap is suspension (1.52 against 1.08 per 100 tests), which fits the weight; brakes, emissions and visibility defects are lower.

Which fuel type passes the MOT most reliably?

Petrol hybrids, and not narrowly: index 70.6 against 96.2 for petrol and 106.4 for diesel. At ten years old hybrids fail 13.7% of tests where petrol fails 23.2%.

Does this mean electric cars are less reliable?

It does not. This measures one thing: the chance of failing a roadworthiness inspection. Breakdown frequency, warranty claims and owner-reported faults are separate measurements that can point the other way, and mixing them is the most common error made with this data.