FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSNissan Dynamo
Top three failure systems, annotated from 30 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
Body and structure defects fail the Nissan Dynamo 7.5× as often as they fail a petrol or diesel car
249 inspections in a single year make the DYNAMO a modestly documented electric car in the data. Body cause 30.6% of its failures; body take 7.5× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The three-year vs four-year picture
AT THREE YEARS OLD8.8%
DYNAMO failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.
AT FOUR YEARS OLD15.2%
DYNAMO failure rate, against 8.9% for petrol.
At three years old the Nissan Dynamo fails 8.8% of the time, over the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 4 years that reaches 15.2%. Body cause 30.6% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // SILL AND UNDERBODY16 certificates in 2024
Corrosion where it should not be yet
Body take 30.6% of the defects that fail this car, 7.5× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc", recorded 16 times in 2024.
SECTION // BODY CONCENTRATIONYear 3 crossover
Where the curve bends
The crossover with petrol happens around year 3. From there the DYNAMO's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.
Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
What to check
Check tyre age and tread across the full width, inner edge included. Electric cars wear tyres faster; a cheap mismatched set on a used car tells you how it was run. Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. Check headlamp aim and every lamp before the test. It is the cheapest failure on the list and the easiest to avoid. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.
3 inspection points:
✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age
✓ Wipers and washers
✓ Headlamp aim and every lamp
FIGURE 3 // FAILURE RATE BY AGEvs petrol, diesel and all electric cars
Points hidden where fewer than 50 cars of that age were tested. Dashed lines are the same-age petrol and diesel fleets.
Data sheet
- Inspections
- 249
- Passed
- 208
- Failed
- 30
- Passed after repair
- 11
- Failure rate
- 12.0% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 3.5 years
- Best year
- 3 yrs · 8.8%
- Worst year
- 4 yrs · 15.2%
- Top cause
- Body 30.6%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs petrol/diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 22.6% | in line | |
| Suspension | 1.6% | 8.5× less | |
| Brakes | 8.1% | 2.3× less | |
| Visibility | 12.9% | in line | |
| Lighting | 16.1% | in line | |
| Steering | 6.5% | 2.1× more | |
| Body | 30.6% | 7.5× more |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc16
- A tyre cords visible or damaged6
- Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen6
- Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements4
- Contaminated with oil, grease etc4
- A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED3
Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.
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Where it holds up
- Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (1.6% of defects vs 13.6%)
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (8.1% of defects vs 18.7%)
Where it fails
- Steering take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (6.5% vs 3.1%)
- Body take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (30.6% vs 4.1%)
- At three years old it fails 8.8% of the time, above the 8.2% of petrol cars the same age
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- DYNAMO TAXI E-NV200245
- DYNAMO TAXI4
OWNER REPORTS // MATCHED TO RECORDED DEFECTS0 read · 0 matched
No owner discussion has been matched to this car's recorded defects yet. Reports are re-collected every quarter; the figures on this page do not depend on them.
Summaries written by us, never quotes; every entry links to its source. Owner reports have no denominator and never feed the failure rate.
SIMILAR CARS IN THE DATAclosest rate and age, other brands
DS 312.5% fail · 1,212 testsMercedes-Benz EQV12.6% fail · 898 testsPeugeot 200811.2% fail · 6,497 testsBMW iX11.6% fail · 484 tests
OTHER NISSAN ELECTRIC CARS
Three things the data shows
- 249 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
- Body take 7.5× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- Failure rate rises from 8.8% at 3 years to 15.2% at 4: a gentle ageing curve.
LIMITS // WHAT THE INSPECTION DOES NOT TELL YOU
No battery health, no motor, no charging performance. The test covers brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, lights, visibility and structure. A car with a badly degraded battery passes as long as it stops and steers. Read this page as evidence about the chassis, not the powertrain. Cars are tested from their third year, so the newest model years are missing; every figure carries its sample size for that reason. Full methodology.
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