What is the head gasket of electric cars?

In the collective imagination, the head gasket is the most common fault in a thermal car. This is, of course, false.

Depending on your generation, you may know the head gasket from Daniel Prevost’s Garage Gaudin, or from the brilliant article by Gorafi: An honest mechanic admits that the head gasket is a complete invention.

For it to be talked about so much, the head gasket is, of course, the Achilles’ heel of internal combustion engine cars, and electric cars owe their reliability to the absence of this cursed accessory. And what if we told you that the main cause of failure for both types of cars is the same, and what if we also told you that it is an electrical accessory? The 12V battery remains the major reason why you might have to visit the garage.

The battery gasket?

Even though it may seem surprising, electric cars are still equipped with a 12-volt battery, an accessory that has changed little over the past few decades. This low-voltage battery powers all the small accessories such as lighting and multimedia. In fact, everything that would not withstand a voltage of 800V from the battery that powers the motors!

The main difference comes from the way this battery is recharged. In a thermal car, the alternator, a kind of dynamo, provides the car with power and recharges the 12V battery when the thermal engine is running. In an electric car, it is, of course, the powertrain battery that recharges it. Breakdowns are therefore less frequent, but remain the primary cause of immobilization. An important piece of information, according to ADAC, electric motor failures represent only 3% of breakdowns! Pretty reliable, those washing machines on wheels, right?

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