Electric vehicles (EVs) are the least likely to be fixed at the roadside by a breakdown company compared to a petrol, diesel or hybrid car, new research suggests.

Almost 30,000 car owners contributed to What Car’s latest Reliability Survey, conducted in association with MotorEasy, to share their car breakdown experiences over the past two years. 

Just a quarter (25%) were given a permanent fix that enabled the driver to carry on with their journey, while 40.1% of petrol car owners were able to continue in a repaired car. 

EVs were also more likely to be towed to a garage than cars of other fuel types: 40.6% of EVs were recovered from the roadside and taken for repair, whereas only 29.6% of petrol cars had to be towed. 

Furthermore, the new research suggests that EVs suffered more breakdowns than petrol, diesel or hybrid models. 

Overall, 10.9% of survey participants said their car had broken down within the past two years, but this figure rose to 16.8% for EVs.

In contrast, 10.7% of petrol-powered cars needed to be recovered, 14.1% of hybrids and 15.4% of diesels. 

Breakdown and recovery rates by fuel type

Source:What Car?

Respondents who had used a breakdown provider in the last two years were also asked how long they had to wait for help to arrive and how good the service they received was.

Patrols that arrived in an hour or less and got cars going again gained the highest marks; those that took more than two hours to arrive and didn’t fix the car or recover it for repair were given the lowest marks. 

Overall, the best breakdown provider was Britannia Rescue. Its patrols attended three-quarters of callouts in less than an hour, and they enabled 53% of car owners to continue their journeys. 

Recovery assistance services rated

Source:What Car? * The Independents category includes responses from a number of independent recovery services and garages.