Nowadays, electric vehicles are seemingly everywhere — but it wasn’t very long ago that a battery-powered car was still a rarity to see on the streets. The rise of EVs happened so quickly thanks to several factors, including the potential for saving money on fuel and subsidies offered by governments. On the other hand, even though these cars have evolved in many ways for the better, there are still some potential issues EV buyers should be aware of.

For example, even though electric cars now offer greater range thanks to more powerful batteries, degrading battery health is still something you might have to contend with five or so years down the road. In addition, high repair costs when problems appear, or even sharp depreciation, are also common in the segment.

That does not mean buying an electric vehicle is a bad idea. There are many EVs that stand out for reliability, and they are excellent choices for people with a specific set of needs that would benefit from their positive points. Still, knowledge is power. As an EV owner or a prospective buyer, it’s important to be aware of the most common problems these vehicles face so that you can take action if and when they happen.

If you are interested in buying an EV with plans to resell it in a few years, it’s important to know why these cars tend to depreciate fast. Since this technology evolves constantly, models often lose market value much faster than internal combustion vehicles. In other words, one release with a more efficient battery is enough to make the price of other models fall in the used market.

Something else to be aware of is that this does not affect one specific brand, but the entire segment. In fact, several popular electric car models have depreciated sharply since 2020, with some losing up to about 76% of their original value, and others recording an average drop of 58%, depending on the model and year.

Battery degradation also ends up having a major influence on a car’s value, since a possible replacement can be hard or very expensive. For that reason, if you are looking at an EV and thinking it will retain its value over the long term, it is important to reconsider your approach. Resale values usually have a sharp drop that requires caution.

Due to the construction, electric vehicles are usually much heavier than combustion vehicles. This is largely due to the weight of the battery pack, and when this additional weight is combined with instant torque delivery from the electric motors on the vehicles, the stress on tires increases significantly, making EV tires wear out 20% to 30% faster than gas car tires.

However, the weight of the car is not the only factor that contributes to this degradation. When a tire is developed specifically for EVs, it is designed with stiffer sidewalls, lower tread depth, and harder rubber compounds. While this combination helps improve the EV’s performance and range, it results in a shorter lifespan when compared to traditional tires.

This introduces extra costs that may not be anticipated when buying an EV, as drivers will have to pay more for tires in addition to needing to replace them more often. Nonetheless, there are methods for mitigating the wear that can be used, such as keeping tires inflated to the proper pressure, rotating the tires at regular intervals, and avoiding aggressive acceleration while driving.

EV charging stations are still nowhere near as ubiquitous as gas stations. If you’re only planning on using your EV within a certain radius of your home, this won’t be a big issue for your vehicle. But you may run into problems with it on longer trips when your own charger isn’t available, and these problems go beyond finding a place to charge. Ultimately, while the sheer number of charging stations has grown immensely in recent years, station reliability hasn’t kept up, and there are reports of EV charging stations running into trouble across the country.

It’s not unusual to go to a charging station only to find that the equipment isn’t working. Whether there are problems with connecting payment apps, maintenance delays, or chargers outputting less power than promised, service failures can turn a quick pit stop into a waiting game.

A lot of times, these problems can leave you looking for another place to charge your car. For that reason, if you’re heading somewhere that will require a recharge along the way, it’s much more important to thoroughly plan your trip than it would be with a gas-powered car. In these cases, you should always check if a charging service is available along your route — preferably more than one — and plan stops with a larger battery buffer to avoid these kinds of problems.

For electric vehicles to work as intended, they depend heavily on their software, since it manages so many core functions of the car. As a result, any system failure can prevent the car from working as it should, which has already happened several times. The 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, for example, recorded 23 different fault codes and failures in its first months of use, which made GM suspend sales. Similarly, Audi and Volkswagen recalled vehicles in 2025 due to software bugs.

In fact, this type of failure can range from small inconveniences to serious safety risks. In 2025, thousands of Tesla Model 3 and Model Y units suffered a failure that caused a sudden loss of power steering. Even though the automaker fixed that remotely, these kinds of problems can happen in any electric vehicle. Gas-powered cars certainly aren’t immune to software problems, but with EVs being more reliant on software in general, the risk is elevated.

It is also important to remember that your vehicle depends on the company releasing these updates, while drivers of gas cars can often just take theirs to a dealership. For example, Fisker went bankrupt in 2024, leaving more than 11,000 SUVs without continued support for possible software failures. For that reason, besides the model itself, evaluating how the company handles software also matters if you want to avoid the least reliable EVs available today.

While EVs don’t use fuel and are cheaper to use in day-to-day life overall, there is a well-documented reason electric vehicles cost more to repair than their combustion counterparts. Their greater technological complexity requires dedicated professionals, which raises average repair costs by more than 14% in comparison.

The average cost of repairs for an electric vehicle in the U.S. is about $6,042, compared to $5,352 for combustion automobiles, according to Mitchell. What’s more, if that battery is harmed in the accident, many insurers prefer to declare a total loss, as the price to repair a damaged battery system can be more than the value of the vehicle (see the depreciation section above).

However, those repairs need to be separated from other maintenance. EV owners tend to pay about half as much per mile for maintenance than gasoline vehicles. So, while everyday use is cheaper, serious out-of-warranty failures can surprise you.