ICE cars are inherently more complex than EV cars, much like a Swiss army knife is inherently more complex than a kitchen knife.
If EVs quality will degrade to the quality of current ICE cars, that would mean that production if EV cars will use less resources, not more. It will not have to repeat the ICEs' complexity.
But frankly popular EV cars like Tesla are often considered sub-par compared to modern ICE cars with regard of build quality. They are used despite these shortcomings, and will actually need to rise tp the quality level of e.g. ICE Toyota cars.
Nobody is going to open up and fix EV's in the near future. When they break down people will be expected to just go buy a new one. Especially if they are much cheaper to produce and buy. If you can buy a car for 3-5k nobody is going to fix them.
By all means, show me a new car with a list price of 3-5k. Current ICE cars already cost 10x that amount, and EV cars are generally even more expensive. On what basis do you expect new cars to ever cost 3-5k? That's the range of an electric bicycle, not a car.
But sure, I was exaggerating. I should have said 10-15k where you will find more examples that are less deadly to drive :)
But actually, I agree with the other comment. I would be surprised if the automotive industry doesn't manage to force us all into car subscriptions.
For the first little while you'll have to buy the car and the subscription, but over time the upfront cost will be less and the subscription will get bigger.
When a my 1980s Ford, my one friend who pays his electrical bill + has a craigslist-sourced machine shop can fix it from steel+aluminum stock, and also teach me how to fix it myself.
When something with power electronics breaks, my option is to buy new power electronics from a big company or trash it. My many friends with PhD/industry EE experience are unable to fix it nor tell me how to fix it with simple tools.
The complexity of the latter therefore seems greater in he colloquial sense than the complexity of the former.
With your 1980's ford, you outsource all off the complexity to a local shop. You're enjoying 100+ years of investment in internal combustion engines. In the future, with wide-scale adoption of EV's, local shops will respond to market demand. We're in early phases. The Model T was launched in 1908. In 2121, I think it's a strong possibility you'll be able to get your 2080's Ford serviced at a local shop.
A 1901 electric car has batteries in glass jars and plates of iron and nickel, speed control of just carbon and copper, easy to make with a vice, hacksaw, and file.
Let's not be comparing obsolete technology to modern.
If EVs quality will degrade to the quality of current ICE cars, that would mean that production if EV cars will use less resources, not more. It will not have to repeat the ICEs' complexity.
But frankly popular EV cars like Tesla are often considered sub-par compared to modern ICE cars with regard of build quality. They are used despite these shortcomings, and will actually need to rise tp the quality level of e.g. ICE Toyota cars.