UKPast about 60,000 miles (97,000 km), electric cars fail the UK MOT less often than petrol cars of the same age, according to an analysis of 47.4 million tests published by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA). New AutoMotive, an independent research group, ran it on DVSA records from July 2024 to July 2026. BVRLA puts this as EVs being around 25% less likely to fail than petrol cars of the same age and mileage.
At lower mileage the two are close. Among cars aged three to eight with 20,000 to 40,000 miles (32,000-64,000 km) on the clock, 12.0% of EVs failed their MOT against 11.7% of petrol cars.
Share of MOT tests failed, by powertrain and mileage band, cars aged three to eight years. BVRLA / New AutoMotive analysis of DVSA MOT records, July 2024 to July 2026. Intermediate mileage bands not shown.
From around 60,000 miles (97,000 km) the EV failure rate levels off close to 16%, while the petrol rate keeps climbing. Among cars with 90,000 to 120,000 miles (145,000-193,000 km), 16.5% of EVs failed their MOT compared with 22.1% of petrol cars. Above 120,000 miles (193,000 km) the gap widens further: 16.0% for EVs against 23.5% for petrol.
“Mileage has always been one of the first things people look at when buying a used car, and passing 60,000 or 70,000 miles can have a big impact on how a vehicle is perceived. This research suggests we need to think differently when it comes to electric vehicles.”
Toby Poston, chief executive, BVRLA
EVs recorded around 1.8 times as many tyre defects as petrol cars across the whole sample, a gap it links partly to some early EVs built on adapted combustion-engine platforms rather than a dedicated EV chassis. The same analysis found EV suspension components failing less often than petrol equivalents in the 60,000-90,000 mile (97,000-145,000 km) band, at 4.7 defects per 100 tests against 6.1 for petrol.
BVRLA also tracked how long each type of car stays on the road. At age 15, 94.6% of electric cars returned for a subsequent MOT within 30 months, against 88.1% of petrol cars. By age 12 the median EV was covering around 4,920 miles (7,900 km) a year, versus 4,410 miles (7,100 km) for petrol.
