Yes, but by much less than the raw figures suggest. On average, electric cars cover more miles than petrol cars before their first MOT, and the more miles a car has done, the more likely it is to fail. Among all cars at their first MOT, the fail rate rises from 5.3% for cars with under 10,000 miles to 17.5% for cars with 60,000 or more.
So we compared electric and petrol cars in the same mileage bands. Electric cars still failed more often in every band up to 45,000 miles, by between 1.0 and 1.9 percentage points. Between 45,000 and 59,999 miles the rates were almost the same (17.9% electric, 17.7% petrol), and at 60,000 miles or more electric cars failed slightly less often (19.0% against 20.0%), a gap too small to rule out chance.
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2025. Cars only, first attempt at the first MOT, by odometer reading at the test. Small figures are the number of tests. n/a = fewer than 1,000 tests. 177 tests with no valid mileage are left out. Download the data (CSV).
| Miles at first MOT | Petrol | Diesel | Electric | Hybrid | Diesel hybrid | All cars |
|---|
| Under 10,000 | 5.2%
84,074 | 6.8%
7,401 | 6.3%
15,884 | 4.8%
29,162 | n/a | 5.3%
137,301 |
| 10,000 to 19,999 | 7.7%
233,681 | 7.8%
21,472 | 9.5%
54,057 | 6.9%
101,173 | 10.2%
3,795 | 7.8%
415,142 |
| 20,000 to 29,999 | 11.4%
204,773 | 10.7%
29,928 | 13.3%
65,672 | 10.2%
102,070 | 12.7%
7,206 | 11.4%
410,675 |
| 30,000 to 44,999 | 14.9%
116,647 | 13.0%
28,214 | 16.0%
58,512 | 12.8%
70,023 | 13.9%
7,459 | 14.4%
281,501 |
| 45,000 to 59,999 | 17.7%
25,520 | 15.7%
9,829 | 17.9%
22,144 | 15.3%
22,967 | 15.0%
2,631 | 16.8%
83,241 |
| 60,000 or more | 20.0%
8,633 | 17.0%
6,120 | 19.0%
14,771 | 15.4%
17,563 | 15.4%
1,422 | 17.5%
48,565 |
Taking all the bands together, electric cars failed about 12% more often than petrol cars with the same mileage, rather than 30% more often before the adjustment. Put another way, the extra miles explain about 60% of the gap between electric and petrol cars at the first MOT. The answer is the same whether the mileage bands are 5,000 miles wide or the six bands in the table, and whichever way the adjustment is worked out (see the methodology).
Diesel cars are the opposite case. Their raw fail rate is higher than petrol's, but they had done more miles, and from 20,000 miles up they failed less often than petrol cars in every band. That gives diesels a mileage-adjusted rate of 10.2%, against 11.0% for petrol. Hybrids failed less often than petrol cars in every band.
The data records whether each car passed or failed, not the reasons, so it cannot answer this. Some explanations are often given, and none of them is tested by these figures:
- Weight and tyres. An analysis of earlier MOT data by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), reported by Tyre Press in 2023, described electric vehicles as heavier than petrol and diesel ones and said this causes heavier wear to their tyres. It found that 46% of failure items on electric vehicles were related to tyres, against 32% for petrol vehicles. Hayley Pells, policy manager at the IMI, said electric vehicles "tend to fail on their tyres more than traditional petrol vehicles".
- How the cars are used. The data does not say whether a car is privately owned, a company car or a private hire car, so differences in use cannot be separated out beyond mileage.
- What is tested. One part of the MOT works in electric cars' favour. The exhaust emissions checks in DVSA's MOT inspection manual are for petrol (spark ignition) and diesel (compression ignition) engines, so they do not apply to a car with no engine. Even so, electric cars failed more often.
The first MOT is the fairest comparison, because every car is about the same age. Electric cars also failed more often than petrol cars at every age from 2 to 11, as the table shows, but the comparison gets weaker with age. Older electric cars are a small group dominated by a handful of early models: 92% of the electric cars tested at 7 to 9 years old were Nissan Leafs, Tesla Model S and Model X cars, Renault Zoes or BMW i3s.
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2025. Cars only, first attempt at each MOT. Age is whole years from first registration to the test, so most first MOTs fall at age 2. Small figures are the number of tests. n/a = fewer than 1,000 tests. Electric leaves out 4,349 tests on hybrid and fuel cell models recorded as electric (see below). Download the data (CSV).
| Age (years) | Petrol | Diesel | Electric | Hybrid | Diesel hybrid | All cars |
|---|
| 2 | 9.6%
640,680 | 10.8%
93,476 | 12.9%
213,660 | 9.4%
334,392 | 12.5%
21,263 | 10.2%
1,306,401 |
| 3 | 10.8%
794,503 | 11.7%
149,805 | 12.9%
201,069 | 10.2%
346,788 | 12.2%
29,706 | 11.1%
1,524,456 |
| 4 | 12.4%
934,987 | 13.3%
246,658 | 14.1%
129,825 | 11.1%
249,891 | 12.5%
25,096 | 12.5%
1,587,645 |
| 5 | 14.6%
1,260,684 | 15.3%
440,580 | 16.4%
53,337 | 12.1%
160,928 | 13.2%
6,211 | 14.6%
1,922,010 |
| 6 | 17.5%
1,416,185 | 17.4%
623,094 | 17.6%
20,271 | 14.3%
139,634 | n/a | 17.2%
2,200,052 |
| 7 | 20.0%
1,258,632 | 19.7%
778,057 | 21.8%
11,645 | 16.0%
114,598 | n/a | 19.7%
2,163,862 |
| 8 | 23.2%
1,259,244 | 22.9%
1,053,911 | 26.2%
10,603 | 17.2%
89,994 | 21.1%
1,370 | 22.9%
2,415,375 |
| 9 | 26.2%
1,196,108 | 26.3%
1,086,229 | 31.3%
8,358 | 19.7%
71,661 | 21.9%
2,070 | 26.1%
2,364,870 |
| 10 | 29.3%
1,124,083 | 29.7%
1,033,932 | 33.5%
6,423 | 21.7%
53,993 | 23.0%
2,002 | 29.3%
2,222,939 |
| 11 | 32.7%
1,018,963 | 32.8%
932,125 | 38.4%
3,056 | 22.1%
36,776 | 29.4%
1,497 | 32.5%
1,993,974 |
| 12 | 35.0%
903,360 | 35.6%
785,827 | 34.6%
1,441 | 24.4%
26,459 | n/a | 35.1%
1,719,678 |
Allowing for mileage as well as age, electric cars failed more often than petrol cars of the same age at 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 years old. The gap was largest at 2 years old, which is mostly first MOTs (14% more often), and electric cars tested at 6 years old failed slightly less often than petrol cars (4% less). We have not made this comparison for older electric cars, because of the recording problem described below.
Hybrids had the lowest fail rate of any fuel type at every age in the table, and the gap grows as the cars get older. After allowing for mileage, hybrids failed 11% less often than petrol cars at 2 years old and 33% less often at 10. Older hybrids are mostly Toyotas and Lexuses (74% of hybrids tested at 8 to 12 years old), so the hybrid figures at those ages say a lot about those two brands. Diesel cars failed between 4% and 15% less often than petrol cars of the same age and mileage.
A note on the electric figures. DVSA says the fuel type in its data is not always recorded accurately, particularly for hybrids. At 10 to 12 years old, 3,935 of the tests recorded as electric were on models that have never been sold in the UK as battery electric cars, mostly Mitsubishi Outlanders (3,135 tests), along with Toyota, Lexus and Honda hybrids and Ford Mondeos. We left all 4,349 such tests, at every age, out of the electric column of the age table. At the first MOT the same check found just 3 tests, so the first MOT figures use the fuel type exactly as DVSA recorded it.
This table ranks every electric model with at least 1,000 first MOTs in 2025, highest fail rate first. Most are cars first registered in 2022. We grouped DVSA's model names into models: for example, "MODEL Y LONG RANGE AWD", "MODEL Y RWD" and "MODEL Y PERFORMANCE AWD" all count as the Tesla Model Y, and "ID3 FAMILY", "ID3 LIFE" and "ID.3" as the Volkswagen ID.3. Where a model is also sold with an engine, only the cars recorded as electric are counted.
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2025. Cars recorded as electric, first attempt at the first MOT, models with at least 1,000 first MOTs. All electric cars: 13.4% of 231,096 tests (12.3% mileage-adjusted), 30,343 miles on average. Download the data (CSV).
| Rank | Model | First MOT fail rate | Mileage-adjusted | First MOTs | Average miles |
|---|
| 1 | Mercedes-Benz EQC | 19.6% | 17.3% | 4,709 | 30,987 |
| 2 | Vauxhall Corsa (electric) | 18.5% | 20.4% | 3,800 | 21,710 |
| 3 | BMW i4 | 17.5% | 14.6% | 6,030 | 34,644 |
| 4 | Renault Megane (electric) | 17.4% | 18.3% | 1,052 | 23,148 |
| 5 | Citroen C4 (electric) | 16.8% | 17.4% | 2,719 | 23,888 |
| 6 | Tesla Model Y | 16.4% | 13.5% | 29,040 | 35,608 |
| 7 | BMW iX3 | 16.3% | 14.1% | 5,888 | 31,740 |
| 8 | MG5 (electric) | 16.1% | 13.3% | 6,095 | 39,733 |
| 9 | Mercedes-Benz EQB | 16.1% | 14.1% | 2,345 | 30,744 |
| 10 | MG ZS (electric) | 15.9% | 14.8% | 5,808 | 30,212 |
| 11 | BMW iX | 15.2% | 13.2% | 4,486 | 31,307 |
| 12 | Tesla Model 3 | 15.1% | 12.0% | 17,058 | 40,235 |
| 13 | Peugeot 208 (electric) | 15.1% | 17.5% | 4,270 | 19,996 |
| 14 | Hyundai Ioniq (electric) | 14.8% | 15.2% | 1,781 | 24,076 |
| 15 | Hyundai Kona (electric) | 13.9% | 13.2% | 5,559 | 27,871 |
| 16 | Fiat 500e | 13.8% | 18.3% | 4,176 | 15,903 |
| 17 | Audi Q4 e-tron | 13.3% | 11.3% | 6,199 | 33,314 |
| 18 | Mercedes-Benz EQA | 12.7% | 11.5% | 4,196 | 29,908 |
| 19 | Volkswagen ID.5 | 12.7% | 11.2% | 2,443 | 30,715 |
| 20 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 12.5% | 10.9% | 4,897 | 32,482 |
| 21 | Kia Niro (electric) | 12.5% | 10.4% | 10,052 | 40,423 |
| 22 | Polestar 2 | 12.4% | 10.2% | 6,797 | 35,468 |
| 23 | BMW i3 | 12.3% | 14.7% | 2,438 | 19,094 |
| 24 | MG4 | 12.3% | 11.9% | 2,716 | 27,300 |
| 25 | Volkswagen ID.3 | 12.3% | 11.8% | 8,863 | 27,466 |
| 26 | Skoda Enyaq | 12.1% | 10.2% | 5,039 | 35,137 |
| 27 | Ford Mustang Mach-E | 11.1% | 9.6% | 3,844 | 32,248 |
| 28 | Kia EV6 | 11.1% | 9.6% | 3,692 | 32,499 |
| 29 | Peugeot 2008 (electric) | 11.1% | 11.2% | 3,945 | 24,603 |
| 30 | Audi e-tron | 11.1% | 9.8% | 4,425 | 30,097 |
| 31 | Volvo XC40 (electric) | 10.9% | 9.8% | 2,398 | 29,780 |
| 32 | Renault Zoe | 10.9% | 12.5% | 4,839 | 20,314 |
| 33 | Volvo C40 | 10.7% | 9.7% | 1,690 | 29,388 |
| 34 | Vauxhall Mokka (electric) | 10.5% | 11.4% | 5,455 | 21,771 |
| 35 | MINI hatch (electric) | 10.4% | 12.8% | 6,341 | 17,888 |
| 36 | Porsche Taycan | 9.8% | 9.8% | 4,011 | 24,750 |
| 37 | Cupra Born | 9.8% | 9.1% | 4,261 | 27,880 |
| 38 | Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 9.5% | 8.3% | 5,300 | 32,592 |
| 39 | Nissan Leaf | 9.4% | 10.2% | 7,838 | 22,431 |
| 40 | Nissan Ariya | 8.9% | 8.5% | 1,255 | 26,866 |
| 41 | Jaguar I-Pace | 7.4% | 6.9% | 4,098 | 28,031 |
The Mercedes-Benz EQC had the highest first MOT fail rate of any electric model (19.6% of 4,709, with 30,987 miles on average), followed by the electric Vauxhall Corsa (18.5%, 21,710 miles on average) and the BMW i4 (17.5%, 34,644 miles on average). The Jaguar I-Pace (7.4%, 28,031 miles on average), Nissan Ariya (8.9%, 26,866 miles on average), Nissan Leaf (9.4%, 22,431 miles on average) and Hyundai Ioniq 5 (9.5%, 32,592 miles on average) failed least often.
Mileage changes the order. Several electric models with low average mileages still failed often, so they move up once mileage is allowed for: the electric Vauxhall Corsa had done 21,710 miles on average and has the highest mileage-adjusted rate, 20.4%. The five highest mileage-adjusted rates are the electric Vauxhall Corsa (20.4%, 21,710 miles), Fiat 500e (18.3%, 15,903 miles), electric Renault Megane (18.3%, 23,148 miles), electric Peugeot 208 (17.5%, 19,996 miles) and electric Citroen C4 (17.4%, 23,888 miles). Higher-mileage models move the other way: the Tesla Model 3 (40,235 miles) goes from 12th to 19th of 41, and the electric MG5 (39,733 miles) from 8th to 14th.
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Our 2025 study of MOT failure rates by area and brand found that Tesla had the highest first MOT fail rate of any car brand with at least 5,000 first MOTs: 15.9% of 46,101. Teslas had also covered more miles than any other brand in that table, 37,320 on average against 25,917 for all cars. This study uses the same data and the same definitions, so the Tesla figures are identical.
Once mileage is allowed for, Tesla is no longer at the top, but it stays above average. Compared with other electric cars that had covered the same mileage, Teslas failed 10% more often (95% range 8% to 13%). The pattern depends on mileage. Teslas with low mileage failed less often than other electric cars (8.5% against 9.6% between 10,000 and 19,999 miles), but from 20,000 miles up they failed more often in every band: 17.8% against 15.3% between 30,000 and 44,999 miles, and 20.2% against 16.8% between 45,000 and 59,999 miles.
Among the 22 brands with at least 1,000 electric first MOTs, Tesla's raw rate is 3rd highest, behind the electric models of Citroen (16.4%, 22,547 miles on average) and Mercedes-Benz (16.2%, 30,646 miles on average). After the mileage adjustment it is 9th. The Model Y (16.4%, 13.5% adjusted) failed more often than the Model 3 (15.1%, 12.0% adjusted), although the Model 3 had done more miles.
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2025. Electric cars only, first attempt at the first MOT, brands with at least 1,000 electric first MOTs, highest raw rate first. Download the data (CSV).
| Brand (electric cars only) | First MOT fail rate | Mileage-adjusted | First MOTs | Average miles |
|---|
| Citroen | 16.4% | 17.5% | 2,969 | 22,547 |
| Mercedes-Benz | 16.2% | 14.5% | 12,357 | 30,646 |
| Tesla | 15.9% | 12.9% | 46,101 | 37,320 |
| BMW | 15.9% | 14.1% | 18,889 | 30,913 |
| MG | 15.4% | 13.6% | 14,654 | 33,715 |
| Fiat | 13.8% | 18.3% | 4,182 | 15,908 |
| Vauxhall | 13.8% | 15.1% | 9,258 | 21,743 |
| Peugeot | 13.4% | 14.5% | 8,351 | 22,201 |
| Polestar | 12.4% | 10.2% | 6,799 | 35,464 |
| Audi | 12.4% | 10.8% | 11,956 | 31,352 |
| Hyundai | 12.2% | 11.3% | 12,642 | 29,316 |
| Skoda | 12.1% | 10.2% | 5,039 | 35,137 |
| Volkswagen | 12.1% | 11.3% | 17,496 | 28,661 |
| Renault | 12.0% | 13.6% | 5,901 | 20,790 |
| Kia | 11.9% | 10.1% | 14,496 | 37,528 |
| Ford | 11.1% | 9.6% | 3,851 | 32,247 |
| Volvo | 10.8% | 9.8% | 4,089 | 29,622 |
| MINI | 10.4% | 12.8% | 6,342 | 17,888 |
| Porsche | 9.8% | 9.8% | 4,012 | 24,744 |
| Cupra | 9.8% | 9.1% | 4,261 | 27,880 |
| Nissan | 9.3% | 9.9% | 9,100 | 23,038 |
| Jaguar | 7.4% | 6.9% | 4,100 | 28,034 |
DVSA's fuel codes do not separate plug-in hybrids from other hybrids. There are only two hybrid codes: HY ("Hybrid Electric (Clean)"), which covers plug-in, full and some mild hybrids, and ED ("Electric Diesel"), which is mostly diesel mild hybrids (93% of ED cars at the first MOT have MHEV in the model name). Many model names do say what kind of hybrid a car is, so the table below splits the HY group on that basis.
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2025. Cars recorded as hybrid (DVSA code HY), first attempt at the first MOT, split by what the model name says. Mild hybrids are often recorded as petrol or diesel instead, so these rows are not every car of each type. Download the data (CSV).
| Hybrid type | First MOT fail rate | Mileage-adjusted | First MOTs | Average miles |
|---|
| Plug-in hybrid (PHEV in the model name) | 10.6% | 9.4% | 38,463 | 31,562 |
| Full hybrid (HEV in the model name) | 9.5% | 9.8% | 103,852 | 25,467 |
| Mild hybrid (MHEV in the model name) | 10.2% | 10.6% | 89,145 | 23,994 |
| Name does not say | 9.7% | 9.0% | 111,526 | 30,488 |
Every kind of hybrid failed less often than electric or petrol cars once mileage is allowed for. Plug-in hybrids had the highest average mileage of the four groups and a mileage-adjusted rate of 9.4%.
Be careful with mild hybrids. DVSA records many of them as petrol or diesel: of the 237,067 first MOTs on cars with MHEV in the model name, 89,145 were recorded as hybrid, 90,213 as petrol, 36,354 as diesel, 21,354 as diesel hybrid and 1 as other. The most common petrol car at its first MOT, the Ford Puma, is a case in point: 27,160 of its 29,584 first MOTs (92%) were on models with MHEV in the name, all recorded as petrol. DVSA's manual also says hybrids, including mild hybrids, are not given the exhaust gas test (petrol) or the smoke meter test (diesel), though the visual smoke check and engine warning light check still apply. So hybrids cannot fail on those two tests, while petrol and diesel cars can. The data does not say how many fails were for emissions.
For comparison, these are the 10 models in each group with the most first MOTs in 2025. Model names are grouped in the same way as the electric table.
Petrol
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2025. Cars recorded as petrol, first attempt at the first MOT, the 10 models with the most first MOTs. All petrol cars: 10.3% (11.0% mileage-adjusted). Download the data (CSV).
| Model | First MOT fail rate | Mileage-adjusted | First MOTs | Average miles |
|---|
| Ford Puma | 7.8% | 8.5% | 29,584 | 21,570 |
| Vauxhall Corsa | 13.6% | 14.9% | 25,740 | 21,917 |
| MINI hatch | 10.0% | 11.6% | 24,738 | 19,922 |
| Ford Fiesta | 9.0% | 10.5% | 21,707 | 20,347 |
| Volkswagen Polo | 8.5% | 9.4% | 19,649 | 21,456 |
| MG HS | 13.0% | 13.1% | 14,573 | 24,593 |
| Volkswagen T-Roc | 9.1% | 9.4% | 14,499 | 23,744 |
| Volkswagen Golf | 7.9% | 7.7% | 13,778 | 26,553 |
| Volkswagen Tiguan | 12.8% | 12.0% | 13,569 | 27,426 |
| Vauxhall Mokka | 10.5% | 11.7% | 13,440 | 21,233 |
Diesel
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2025. Cars recorded as diesel, first attempt at the first MOT, the 10 models with the most first MOTs. All diesel cars: 11.3% (10.2% mileage-adjusted). Download the data (CSV).
| Model | First MOT fail rate | Mileage-adjusted | First MOTs | Average miles |
|---|
| Ford Kuga | 9.6% | 9.3% | 6,407 | 26,299 |
| Land Rover Defender | 7.8% | 6.8% | 6,308 | 31,021 |
| Range Rover Evoque | 10.1% | 9.9% | 4,176 | 25,478 |
| Mercedes-Benz GLC | 9.2% | 8.2% | 3,611 | 29,569 |
| Audi Q5 | 7.5% | 6.4% | 3,528 | 31,961 |
| Volkswagen Tiguan | 11.9% | 10.4% | 2,994 | 31,382 |
| Volkswagen Golf | 11.1% | 8.8% | 2,670 | 39,685 |
| Jaguar F-Pace | 10.1% | 9.3% | 2,546 | 27,894 |
| Land Rover Discovery | 11.8% | 9.5% | 2,529 | 36,530 |
| Range Rover Velar | 16.1% | 14.5% | 2,243 | 28,778 |
Hybrid
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2025. Cars recorded as hybrid, first attempt at the first MOT, the 10 models with the most first MOTs. All hybrid cars: 9.9% (9.7% mileage-adjusted). Download the data (CSV).
| Model | First MOT fail rate | Mileage-adjusted | First MOTs | Average miles |
|---|
| Nissan Qashqai | 10.3% | 10.3% | 36,639 | 24,764 |
| Toyota Yaris | 7.9% | 9.2% | 18,741 | 20,010 |
| Hyundai Tucson | 9.6% | 9.1% | 15,355 | 27,814 |
| Toyota Corolla | 10.3% | 9.1% | 15,264 | 36,956 |
| Toyota C-HR | 8.3% | 8.6% | 14,573 | 24,258 |
| Kia Sportage | 10.4% | 10.0% | 13,480 | 26,782 |
| Toyota Yaris Cross | 7.5% | 8.0% | 12,609 | 22,730 |
| Ford Kuga | 7.8% | 7.3% | 11,575 | 29,079 |
| Kia Niro | 10.7% | 10.3% | 10,748 | 28,376 |
| Honda Jazz | 6.0% | 7.7% | 9,572 | 16,966 |
Of these 30 common models, the hybrid Honda Jazz (6.0%, 16,966 miles on average), hybrid Toyota Yaris Cross (7.5%, 22,730 miles on average) and diesel Audi Q5 (7.5%, 31,961 miles on average) had the lowest first MOT fail rates, and the diesel Range Rover Velar (16.1%, 28,778 miles on average), petrol Vauxhall Corsa (13.6%, 21,917 miles on average) and petrol MG HS (13.0%, 24,593 miles on average) the highest. The 10 most common petrol models had covered 19,922 to 27,426 miles on average, less than most electric models.
Yes. Electric cars need an MOT on the same schedule as petrol and diesel cars. GOV.UK says you must get an MOT by the third anniversary of a vehicle's registration, or by the anniversary of its last MOT if it is over 3 years old. Some vehicles, such as taxis, are tested from one year old. GOV.UK's page on vehicles that do not need an MOT does not list electric cars; the only electric vehicles it mentions are goods vehicles powered by electricity and registered before 1 March 2015.
The test itself is the same, with one difference: the exhaust emissions checks in DVSA's MOT inspection manual are for petrol and diesel engines, so they do not apply to a car with no engine. Hybrids need an MOT too, on the same schedule. The manual says hybrids, including mild hybrids, are not given the exhaust gas test (petrol) or the smoke meter test (diesel), but they still get the visual smoke check and the engine warning light check.
Cars with more miles on the clock fail more often, and electric cars and diesels had done more miles by their first MOT than petrol cars. If we only counted fails, a fuel type driven harder would look worse even if its cars were built just as well.
So for each fuel type we worked out how many fails there would have been if its cars had failed at the all-car rate for their mileage, and compared that with the number that actually failed. Electric cars had 30,970 fails against about 27,327 expected for cars with those mileages: 1.13 times as many. Multiply the all-car first MOT rate of 10.8% by 1.13 and you get the mileage-adjusted rate of 12.3%. Petrol cars had 69,338 fails against about 68,271 expected, 1.02 times as many, which gives 11.0%. The adjustment uses 5,000-mile bands and covers mileage only. It does not allow for the make and model of car, how it was used or how well it was looked after.
How to check a used electric car's MOT history
Averages tell you about the odds. The record of the car you are looking at tells you far more, and it is free to check.
- Look up the full MOT history. Enter the registration in our MOT history check to see every test, with each fail and advisory. Tyre and brake advisories are worth asking about on any car.
- Check the mileage. Each MOT records the odometer reading. Our mileage check shows the readings over time, so a drop between tests or a long gap stands out.
- Check what the MOT does not cover. The MOT does not look for outstanding finance, an insurance write-off or a stolen record. Our £4.99 history check adds outstanding finance with the lender and agreement details, the write-off category with the date and cause, the police stolen record and the keepers with the date of each change. It is a one-off payment with no subscription, offered on the free report page.
- Compare models. Our MOT failure rates by car model page ranks models on an earlier year of DVSA data and includes retests, so its figures are not directly comparable with the first-attempt figures here. For areas and car brands in 2025, see our MOT failure rates 2025 study.
- Weigh up the running costs. Our guide to electric car running costs in the UK covers charging, tax, insurance and servicing.
Journalists and bloggers
You are welcome to use these figures and tables free of charge, with a link to this page as the source (CarCostCheck, carcostcheck.co.uk/blog/electric-car-mot-failure-rates-2025).
For the full data file, figures for a particular model or fuel type, or a comment, email hello@carcostcheck.co.uk.
Download the data (CSV): first MOT rates by fuel type and mileage band, rates by age, every electric model and brand, the most common petrol, diesel and hybrid models, the hybrid split and the checks.
- Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test results for tests carried out between 1 January and 31 December 2025, published by DVSA on 22 June 2026 (42,728,066 test records). This is the same data as our 2025 area and brand study.
- Tests counted: class 4 vehicles, normal tests only (DVSA test type NT, the first attempt at each MOT), with a result of pass, fail or pass after rectification at station (PRS). A fail is a fail or a PRS, as in DVSA's own initial fail rate. Abandoned, aborted and refused tests (202,432) are left out. That gives 33,210,951 tests and 9,193,623 fails, the same totals as our area and brand study.
- Cars only: class 4 also covers light vans up to 3,000kg. We left out vans, pickups and van-based people carriers by model name (for example Transit, Berlingo, Vivaro, Transporter and Hilux) and brands such as Isuzu and LDV that sell only commercial vehicles, exactly as in our area and brand study. At the first MOT this removed 127,663 diesel, 6,451 electric, 3,047 petrol, 312 diesel hybrid and 152 hybrid tests. Across all ages it removed 2,856,228 diesel, 68,546 petrol, 26,104 electric, 911 diesel hybrid, 825 other and 553 hybrid tests. Taxis, private hire cars and motor caravans stay in.
- Fuel type: the fuel type DVSA records for each test, which the tester enters or confirms. Petrol is code PE, diesel DI and electric EL. Hybrid is HY ("Hybrid Electric (Clean)") and diesel hybrid is ED ("Electric Diesel"); DVSA has no separate code for plug-in hybrids. "Gas, bi-fuel and other" is everything else: GB (gas bi-fuel), LP (LPG), OT (other), FC (fuel cells), GA, GD, CN, LN and ST. Some records spell the fuel type out in full ("ELECTRIC" on some Nissan Leafs and Tesla Model S cars, "HYBRID ELECTRIC (CLEAN)" mainly on Toyotas, which make up 80% of these records at the first MOT); we counted these with the matching code (6,746 and 48,694 first MOTs).
- First MOT: tests carried out between 1,020 and 1,139 days after the car's first registration, which holds the first MOT peak. Most of these cars were first registered in 2022. A few vehicles, such as taxis, are tested from age 1, so a small share of tests in the window are not first MOTs. Narrower and wider windows, from 1,065 to 1,095 days up to 990 to 1,169 days, gave an electric rate between 13.3% and 13.5% and a petrol rate between 9.9% and 10.3%.
- Mileage: the odometer reading recorded at the test. Readings of zero or of 500,000 or more are treated as missing; 177 first MOTs had no valid reading and are left out of the mileage figures only.
- Mileage adjustment: indirect standardisation. For each group, expected fails are the sum, across 5,000-mile bands (with 100,000 miles or more as one band), of the group's tests in the band multiplied by the all-car fail rate in that band. The adjusted rate is observed fails divided by expected fails, multiplied by the all-car rate of 10.8%. As a check, applying each fuel type's own band rates to the mileage mix of all cars (direct standardisation) gave 12.4% for electric and 11.1% for petrol, and using the six bands in the table gave 12.3% and 11.0%. The 95% ranges for the adjusted figures treat the number of fails as a Poisson count.
- Age table: age is whole years from first registration to the test. The mileage-adjusted comparisons by age use the same method within each age, with 10,000-mile bands. In the electric column we left out 4,349 tests on models recorded as electric that have only been sold as hybrids, plug-in hybrids or fuel cell cars (Mitsubishi Outlander, Ford Mondeo, Toyota and Lexus models other than the bZ4X, UX and RZ, Honda Insight, Jazz, CR-Z and Civic, Hyundai Nexo and Peugeot 3008).
- Models: DVSA's model names include trim and engine details, so we grouped them into models, mostly by the first word of the name (for example all "PUMA ..." names are the Ford Puma), with fixes for brands that name models differently: BMW and Mercedes-Benz series and classes, Range Rover models, MINI hatchbacks, MG's numbered models, Tesla, the Volkswagen ID range, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Polestar 2. Cross and Aircross models are kept separate (Toyota Yaris Cross is not counted as a Yaris). Each model is counted within one fuel type. A model needs at least 1,000 first MOTs to appear.
- Brands: the make recorded by DVSA, with VW counted as Volkswagen and Mercedes as Mercedes-Benz.
- Checks: we read all 42,728,066 records twice with two separately written programs, one in JavaScript and one in Python. They agree on every count we checked: the national totals, every fuel code, every first MOT mileage band, every age, and the Tesla and electric brand figures. The totals match our area and brand study exactly, including 1,376,602 first MOTs on cars with a 10.8% fail rate and the Tesla figure of 15.9% of 46,101.
- Limitations: electric cars are newer and there are fewer of them, so most of the evidence comes from cars at their first and second MOTs. Fail rates reflect maintenance, use and mileage as well as how cars are built. The mileage adjustment does not allow for make, model or use, and the fuel type is as recorded by DVSA, which is not always right. The data has no information on why a car failed. A fail rate is a guide to the odds, not a verdict on any one car.
Source: CarCostCheck analysis of the DVSA anonymised MOT tests and results dataset, 2025. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. DVSA's own published fail rates are in its MOT testing data for Great Britain. MOT rules: GOV.UK, Getting an MOT. Download our tables (CSV).