Simpler design is largely a myth. The electric machine has fewer moving parts but overall the cars are complex.
For the most part, the internal moving engine parts in an ICE don't fail in the first 10 years or so. Maintenance is much lower than it used to be. Our last petrol car only needed an oil change once every 15,000 miles although we did it annually. Spark plugs weren't due until the 6th oil change. Air Filter was every 3rd oil change. Oxygen sensor was due every 120,000 miles.
I would disagree- the number of individual components are far fewer. A diesel will have a crankshaft sensor, camshaft sensor, oxygen sensor, at least one fuel pressure sensor, temperature sensors for coolant, fuel, intake air and 3 for exhaust gas, pressure sensors for atmosphere, inlet manifold, and exhaust, mass air flow sensor, position sensors for the accelerator pedal, throttle body, EGR valve and swirl flaps, motors or solenoids for throttle body, EGR valve, EGR cooler bypass, turbocharger vanes, swirl flaps, radiator blind, cooling fans, fuel pressure, fuel flow, in some cases one or more low pressure fuel pump, as well as heating elements for glow plugs, auxillary heating, oxygen sensors and electronic thermostats, not to mention mechanical components such as crankshafts and pistons, turbochargers, water pumps and a fuel system that runs at 2000 bar, and all of this is without the transmission components, which are far simpler on an EV.
I'd have agreed with you in the past about the second point but things have changed in recent years. In my opinion cars in general got more and more reliable until a turning point in the 1990s/2000s and have gone downhill in reliability terms since. Try finding a three-year old diesel Range Rover of the current generation that is on its original engine, or a diesel Mazda for that matter.
A curiosity of the car industry is that frequently technology works best when it is new, in contrast to logic. I think manufacturers know they have one chance to prove the technology, and once done, they can start cost-cutting later on. For example the original Peugeot HDi engine, the DW10 with Bosch fuel system, launched in 1997 is far more reliable than anything they have made since. Likewise the third generation Toyota Prius sometimes suffers inverter problems which never affected its ancestors. The early EGR valves across all manufacturers worked better than they do now, and clutch hydraulics are failing within a year. Timing chains, once a sign of a well-made engine, nowadays fail routinely, sometimes within the first year of a car's life. Look at the Vauxhall Ampera's reliability record compared to something like a Mokka- GM knew if their first electric car was poor, they would be suffering for decades, whereas the other garbage they make doesn't have the same long-lasting effect. The Ampera uses the strengthened engine block from the Corsa Turbo, despite being under lower load than a conventional engine, and the whole car is similarly full of proper engineering, because they couldn't afford any problems.
In terms of extended service intervals, unfortunately these are dictated by the marketing departments, rather than by engineering. A lease company will look at the total cost of ownership for the first few years, and cost cars based on this figure. This is why many manufacturers have changed from cambelts to timing chains, as although the latter offers no real advantage, because there is no scheduled maintenance, it keeps the fleets happy. The Austin Metro was launched with 12000 mile service intervals, but its suspension needed greasing every 3000 miles to keep it from wearing, and the points and condensor needed attention at similar mileages. Exactly the same thing happens all the time now. If you want the car to last for the warranty/lease period, then maintain as the manufacturer suggests. If you want 10 or 20 years out of it, I would suggest a few more oil changes at the very least.
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