What 1,855 MOT tests in 2025 say about buying one used — and, just as important, what they cannot tell you.
Too few of these have been tested for us to place them against the rest of the electric fleet. We would rather say that than round a thin number up into a verdict.
Battery warranty terms per model year — years, mileage cap, capacity-retention threshold, and whether it transfers to a second owner — have to be traced to the manufacturer’s own published documentation, row by row, and dated. That table has not been built.
We will not sell you a battery state-of-health figure we have not measured. Ours would be a guess, so we are not selling it. Where a physical test is worth its roughly £100, we will say so plainly.
| Advisory category | Items | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 282 | 70.1% |
| Non-component advisories | 67 | 16.7% |
| Brakes | 45 | 11.2% |
| Suspension | 4 | 1.0% |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 0.5% |
| Visibility | 2 | 0.5% |
Advisories are warnings. These are the items that actually failed a test — the ones that cost money before the car can be driven away.
| Failure category | Items | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 35 | 54.7% |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 17 | 26.6% |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4 | 6.2% |
| Visibility | 4 | 6.2% |
| Suspension | 3 | 4.7% |
| Brakes | 1 | 1.6% |
You will read everywhere that electric cars destroy tyres — heavier, and all the torque at once. It is true of some and not others, and the only fair way to look is at cars of the same age.
At three to five years old, tyres are 72.2% of this model’s top advisory items. Petrol hatchbacks of the same age average 40.0%. So it is well above them.
| Model, aged 3–5 | Tyres as a share of top advisories |
|---|---|
| bZ4X electric | 72.2% |
| Golf petrol | 51.4% |
| Fiesta petrol | 44.9% |
| Focus petrol | 43.7% |
| Astra petrol | 32.2% |
| Corsa petrol | 27.6% |
MOT data says how these cars behave. DVLA’s licensing figures say how many exist — and how many have been taken off the road without being scrapped. A car declared SORN is parked up. On an electric car that is often a pack nobody wants to replace.
| Registered | bZ4X on the road | bZ4X SORN | Petrol hatchbacks SORN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 394 | 1.3% | 0.5% |
| 2023 | 526 | 0.2% | 0.9% |
| 2024 | 7,729 | 0.8% | 0.6% |
| 2025 | 3,686 | 0.5% | 1.3% |
Same registration year on both sides, so this is the cars and not their ages. Petrol benchmark: Fiesta, Corsa, Golf and Focus combined.
This page describes the model. The free check describes the car in front of you.
The check costs nothing. A free account is needed so results can be saved and cars compared side by side — no card, no charge. Paid reports are extra and every price is on the page before you type a registration, never after.