EV's are definitely not as reliable as petrol or diesel cars (yet), although there are obvious benefits, the disadvantages outweigh this presently. Therefore from experience I'd advise anyone considering an EV to think twice.
My first car of my own was a handy down from my aunt in 2014, where I was kindly given a high mileage 2004 BMW 318i. I used it for four years, commonly commuting long distances (N.Ireland to Dublin), typical maintenance as expected where things like the timing belt, new springs, oil changes, brake pads, etc; and the A/C never worked that well, however nothing major ever failed. I changed in 2018 after the car was 14 years old with 252,000 miles on the clock. Just to emphasise a 14-year-old petrol car with 252,000 miles, never broke down once.
In 2018, as at this time I was assisting with my family farm after uni, I purchased a Ford Ranger Wildtrak, which I still own to this day in N.Ireland. Touch wood nothing has ever failed, standard services have covered all required maintenance with 76,000 miles on the clock.
Primary based in London now working in tech, yet traveling around a lot with work, with ULEZ and business incentives, I'm leasing an electric car, Mercedes EQB, where my lease started with a new car in February 2024. Since my lease started 10 months ago, I have driven 11,000 miles, surprisingly I have broken down twice, once with an overheating issue and the second time with a braking issue, where my brake become soft and unusable. Outside of this I have brought my car back to the dealership two additional times (where it has been drivable), due to a "battery conditioning" fault and software based issues, where I have lost most instruments & car monitoring. In addition I am concerned regarding battery degradation, where when new I could get roughly 280 miles on a charge, now I'm struggling to get 200 miles, 10 months later, yet battery capacity reports it has hardly changed reported by the system. Mercedes reports the car is fine and multiple factors maybe at play here, such as, season of year and driving style; therefore warranty will not cover my lost 80 miles of range and rapidly decreasing.
I love the concept of electric car, especially the drive with the instant torque. The range is more than I'll need any single day and charging overnight at home is easy. However, just the reliability issues, battery capacity and for anyone purchasing, rather than leasing, as of the expense of replacing your battery after a few of years, your car will lose an awful lot of value.
Just a heads up to anyone thinking about going electric, with the title of this thread "Who has or is planning to get an electric car".