Buying a secondhand object is always worrying. You have got to inquire about the condition, the remaining life of the object, and a lot more stuff. When it is an asset like a vehicle the question becomes even more serious. While a normal fuel-based car is still safer to deal with, new study reveals how long does the battery of an electric vehicle last.
A genuine question like this needed to be asked and to find the answer to it data from 15,000 cars were used. The issue with the study is that not many EVs are that old and some of the older EVs considered for this study are of no use since the battery technology has improved over the years.
But even with such challenges faced by the study and other such exceptions only 1.5% of the cars included needed a battery replacement. What’s even more important is that the mileage offered was still consistent. There was a dip initially but once the break-in period was done the drop-off didn’t follow the suit.
The batteries considered during the study came from a range of cars with a variety of batteries to go through. A comparison between Tesla Model S’s 85 and the 100 kWh variant that had been driven 100k miles showed that the mileage for the former remained almost the same while for the latter it fell quite significantly.
New study reveals how long does the battery of an electric vehicle last. While an exact number can’t be given the manufacturer warranty for a lot of EVs expires at 100k miles.
Beyond this limit, it is difficult to determine how long an EV battery will go, nevertheless, 100k miles sounds much more than what EV haters would want you to believe is their true life cycle.
The lithium-ion battery of an EV amounts to 50 to 70% of its value and if the battery is dead then the car is as good as dead. While lithium-ion batteries start to deteriorate as soon as they are created, the battery of an EV is more complex and sophisticated than other such batteries. Apart from Hyundai Kona and Chevy Bolt EV, other EV cars included in the study didn’t need as many battery replacements.
So far most cars from 2017 have required a battery replacement as almost 12% of EVs sold in the year needed a battery replacement as compared to almost 0% of users from 2016.
In the US, the average warranty period for an EV battery is 8 years or 100k miles and for now, these numbers are the best way to understand how long an EV battery will last at a bare minimum.
Also Read: A Deal has been reached for Vital Minerals for EV Batteries between the US and Japan
While we move to newer and newer battery technologies the batteries are only bound to improve but till then it is important to pay attention to factors such as heat, charging, and depth of discharge. Make sure to keep monitoring your EV and take care of the battery in any and every way you can.
Source: Recurrent
