EV breakdowns from flat batteries are almost as rare as petrol cars running out of fuel

The phrase “range anxiety” is thrown around a lot whenever the topic of electric cars is brought up in conversation, but some very recent research may help finally put this concern to bed.

According to the AA, a mere 1.4% of all electric car breakdowns that it attended in June 2024 were due to a car’s battery running out of charge. This figure wasn’t much higher during the same period in 2023, either, with flat batteries only accounting for 1.6%. 

To put June’s figure into perspective, the AA claims to attend up to 8,000 breakdowns per day, with only five or six of these being EVs with depleted batteries.

This low figure is part of an improving trend, too, as June 2021 saw 2.8 per cent of breakdowns being due to a lack of charge, down from 4.6% in June 2020. Go all the way back to 2015 and the figure jumps up to 8%. 

Even in many cases where the AA does attend an EV that’s apparently out of charge, there is usually a small amount of power left, but the owner has been concerned about their ability to reach a charger.

Improvements in battery tech and charging infrastructure are being credited as the main contributors towards this continuous decline, with AA president Edmund King saying “Once drivers have made the switch the vast majority will not look back.”

Of course, no car is completely immune from a potential breakdown. The AA says that the most common causes of EV emergencies are exactly the same as for their combustion counterparts, with flat 12V batteries and defective tyres or wheels being the biggest culprits.