Electric cars get fewer MOT advisories, except on tyres

Suspension and brake advisory rates track almost exactly with each fuel's newer, lower-mileage fleet. Tyre tread advisories are the one item that does not.

MOT DATA · 6 min read

A different question from the dangerous-defects guide

Our fuel-type dangerous-defects guide found electric cars have the highest share of severely-graded MOT faults of any fuel type. That is about severity once a defect is flagged. This guide asks a different question: how often is the same defect flagged as an advisory in the first place, before it ever reaches fail or dangerous, and does that rate differ by fuel type. Same underlying data as that guide, the same 2,350 model and fuel combinations with at least 500 tests each, this time reading DVSA's Advisory-severity citations instead of Fail-type ones, weighted by every real test behind it rather than averaged model by model.

Three items that track the fleet's age almost exactly

Electric cars are a much newer fleet on UK roads: 2020.1 average test year and 36,511 average recorded mileage across the 358,992 tests behind this guide, against hybrid's 2018.5 and 51,047, petrol's 2012.9 and 63,974, and diesel's 2013.4 and 97,660, the oldest and highest-mileage of the four. For three of the most common wear-related advisories, the rate by fuel type tracks that exact ranking. A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn: diesel 16.42 percent, petrol 11.93 percent, hybrid 3.96 percent, electric 3.83 percent. Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured: diesel 14.05 percent, petrol 11.43 percent, hybrid 7.06 percent, electric 6.48 percent. A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm: diesel 11.02 percent, petrol 8.60 percent, hybrid 4.31 percent, electric 1.28 percent. Same order, every time: diesel highest, then petrol, then hybrid, then electric, matching mileage and fleet age almost exactly rather than anything specific to how the car is powered.

Tyre tread depth breaks the pattern

If mileage explained all of it, electric would sit lowest on every item, the way it does on suspension and brakes. It does not on tyres. Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements, the single most common advisory nationally at 26.65 percent, splits by fuel as: diesel 30.16 percent, electric 29.75 percent, petrol 24.32 percent, hybrid 22.74 percent. Electric sits second-highest, above petrol and comfortably above hybrid, despite averaging well under half diesel's mileage and under three quarters of hybrid's. Excluding every Tesla variant from the electric total (124 of the 134 qualifying pairs, 282,205 tests) moves the figure to 26.21 percent, still above petrol and hybrid, so this is not one high-volume model carrying the whole electric figure.

Get a graded deal ticket for your lot →

The same anomaly, a second way

This is not a new finding on its own, it is the same one the dangerous-defects guide already made, seen from a second, independent cut of the data. That guide checked the actual top flagged items behind several non-Tesla electric models and found tyre defects turning up disproportionately often, consistent with the widely reported effect of a heavier battery pack and instant torque accelerating tyre wear. Neither guide can confirm that mechanism from DVSA's data alone, which records what was flagged, not why. What the advisory data adds is that the pattern shows up before a tyre defect ever reaches dangerous or fail too, at the point a tester first notes it, not just once it has gotten worse.

The full ranked comparison

As a share of every first-time test with that fuel type. Diesel (14,443,345 tests, 828 model and fuel pairs): tyre tread 30.16 percent, suspension pin/bush/joint 16.42 percent, brake disc or drum 14.05 percent, a tyre seriously damaged 11.48 percent, brake lining or pad 11.02 percent. Petrol (17,332,573 tests, 1,147 pairs): tyre tread 24.32 percent, a tyre seriously damaged 19.21 percent, suspension pin/bush/joint 11.93 percent, brake disc or drum 11.43 percent, brake lining or pad 8.60 percent. Hybrid (951,276 tests, 231 pairs): tyre tread 22.74 percent, a tyre seriously damaged 14.37 percent, brake disc or drum 7.06 percent, brake lining or pad 4.31 percent, suspension pin/bush/joint 3.96 percent. Electric (358,992 tests, 134 pairs): tyre tread 29.75 percent, a tyre seriously damaged 12.28 percent, brake disc or drum 6.48 percent, suspension pin/bush/joint 3.83 percent, brake lining or pad 1.28 percent.

What this means buying or running one

If you are pricing a used electric car, do not extrapolate a low overall advisory count into low running costs across the board: budget for tyres the same as you would on any fuel type, they wear on a schedule the mileage-tracking pattern above does not apply to. Suspension and brakes genuinely do look like less of a concern on a younger, lower-mileage electric car, but that is the fleet's age talking, not a property of the drivetrain, so it will look less favourable as the electric fleet itself ages over the next few years. Check the model's own advisory and failure lists on its Salvage Prophet page rather than reasoning from the fuel type alone, and run our free vehicle history checker before you bid on any car regardless of fuel: full DVSA MOT history, the mileage timeline and any clocking anomalies, on any UK registration, no account needed.

Real MOT data for this model

• Kia Niro 4 + Ev - 91.6% pass rate, avg 36,392 miles
• Hyundai Kona - 90.6% pass rate, avg 35,467 miles
• Volkswagen Id3 Life - 90.7% pass rate, avg 30,172 miles
• Ford Fiesta - 71.7% pass rate, avg 70,404 miles
• Toyota Prius - 86% pass rate, avg 132,186 miles

Related guides

• The most common reasons cars fail their MOT (2025 UK data) - One in four cars fails its first MOT. Here is exactly what they fail on, using the latest DVSA figures, and what each fault means if you are buying salvage.
• Why cars fail their MOT on lights and electrics (and what it costs) - Lamps and electrical faults are the single most common MOT failure at 10.36 percent of cars. What fails, why, and what it costs to fix on a salvage repair.
• Why cars fail their MOT on suspension (and what it costs) - Suspension is the second most common MOT failure at 8.65 percent of cars, and unlike lights it can get expensive. What fails and how to price it.