How often does the Volkswagen e-Up fail its MOT?

6.4% of 1,540 first-time tests in 2024 were failures, against 12.0% for all electric cars.

What does the Volkswagen e-Up most often fail on?

Tyres, 56.1% of failing defects. The single most common defect was: A tyre seriously damaged.

Volkswagen · Fully electric · 1,540 inspections in 2024 · Rank 15 of 81DVSA MOT analysis

Tyres are 56% of everything that fails a Volkswagen e-Up

1,540 inspections in a single year make the E-UP a modestly documented electric car in the data. Tyres cause 56.1% of its failures; tyres take 2.4× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.

FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSVolkswagen e-Up

Top three failure systems, annotated from 98 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.

First-time test findings

The three-year vs four-year picture

AT THREE YEARS OLD5.8%

E-UP failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.

AT FOUR YEARS OLD9.2%

E-UP failure rate, against 8.9% for petrol.

At three years old the Volkswagen e-Up fails 5.8% of the time, under the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 4 years that reaches 9.2%. Tyres cause 56.1% of its failures.

FIGURE 2 // TYRE SECTION52 certificates in 2024

The tyre that wears from the inside

Tyres take 56.1% of the defects that fail this car, 2.4× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "A tyre seriously damaged", recorded 52 times in 2024.

SECTION // TYRES CONCENTRATIONYear 4 crossover

Where the curve bends

The crossover with petrol happens around year 4. From there the E-UP's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.

DEFECT CONCENTRATION IN FAILED TESTS:

E-UP tyres share56.1%

Petrol and diesel average23.7%

The single most common item on a E-UP certificate is "A tyre seriously damaged", recorded 52 times.

Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.

Buyer's protocolPre-purchase checklist

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. Check the washers reach the screen. It fails the test and it is a thirty-second check. Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. 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

✓ Washer reach

✓ Wipers and washers

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: 1,540
Passed: 1,410
Failed: 98
Passed after repair: 32
Failure rate: 6.4% (all EV 12.0%)
Average age: 3.2 years
Best year: 3 yrs · 5.8%
Worst year: 4 yrs · 9.2%
Top cause: Tyres 56.1%

TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects

System	Share	vs petrol/diesel
Tyres	56.1%	2.4× more
Suspension	5.4%	2.5× less
Brakes	4.7%	4.0× less
Visibility	10.8%	in line
Lighting	14.9%	in line
Steering	0.7%	4.4× less
Body	0.0%	in line

TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE

A tyre seriously damaged52
A tyre cords visible or damaged13
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements11
Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen9
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen6
An obligatory rear fog lamp missing, or a front or rear fog lamp inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning5

Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.

Where it holds up

Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (5.4% of defects vs 13.6%)
Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (4.7% of defects vs 18.7%)
Steering fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.7% of defects vs 3.1%)
Body fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.0% of defects vs 4.1%)

Where it fails

Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (56.1% vs 23.7%)

VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded

E-UP1,540

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

Citroen E-Dispatch6.6% fail · 151 tests BMW i46.4% fail · 266 tests Mazda MX-306.4% fail · 2,026 tests Vauxhall Combo-e6.7% fail · 163 tests

OTHER VOLKSWAGEN ELECTRIC CARS

Volkswagen ABT4.2% fail first time Volkswagen e-Golf11.9% fail first time Volkswagen Golf12.1% fail first time Volkswagen ID.38.3% fail first time

Three things the data shows

1,540 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
Tyres take 2.4× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
Failure rate rises from 5.8% at 3 years to 9.2% 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.