One of the most concerning issues for prospective buyers of electric vehicles is the question of reliability, and the corresponding battery life they can expect from their vehicle. Now, it appears as though this problem may not be as serious as most expect, and that batteries tend to perform reasonably well as they age.
According to a report from Recurrent, automakers claim that batteries used in EVs should last upwards of 20 years. In addition, the degradation of the batteries is nonlinear, and tends to level out after dropping as soon as they start being recharged. That being said, these are normal conditions for the batteries used in all-electric vehicles, as most EVs still feature their original battery pack (barring the Chevy Bolt and Chevy Bolt EUV recall).
The report points to the Chevy Volt as a prime example of what to expect when it comes to an aging battery. After some variation in range estimates early on, the battery slowly loses capacity as it approaches 100,000 miles.
It’s worth noting that the Chevy Volt is a plug-in hybrid, and thus doesn’t rely on its battery pack as much as an all-electric vehicle would.
2019 Chevy Volt
To help alleviate any worries when it comes to battery degradation, it’s important to keep a few details in mind:
- Heat
- Lithium-ion batteries can have trouble regulating temperature in hot climates, and should be kept as cool as possible. As such, parking in the shade or in a garage before charging your EV may be beneficial.
- Charging
- As convenient as fast charging stations are, the faster rate of charge may cause more stress or damage to battery materials, which would result in less range. On top of that, fast charging generates heat, which is not ideal for battery longevity.
- Discharge
- The depth of discharge, or the amount of battery you use between charges, can have an effect on overall battery life. The further you discharge the battery, the less stable it becomes, and the more potential for damage it has.
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Comments
Actually the Volt experiences higher stresses than a pure EV. That’s why it has a large battery buffer because it’s cycles regularly. Daily you only use a small percentage of an EVs capacity.
Same for other GM and Ford hybrids that charge and recharge many times in every trip. EVs may charge once a week, and only charge multiple times during one long trip, so their batteries are treated well. But if someone needs to travel far many times, then they should stay with a hybrid.
How is a hybrid any different than a EV with respect to charging where it is almost constantly charging through deceleration regen?
It’s my understanding that the hybrid battery is charged more often and it is not discharged to the same (higher) degree as an EV battery. The deep discharge was pointed to as a detriment to long life. Charging an EV battery regularly (daily) when commuting would more closely replicate the hybrid’s shallow cycle.
There is Volt out there with 500 k miles. Google it for 400k lol
12 yrs of daily hard driving Pgh. Still getting over the 38 mile range.
I average about 25 hard stop go driving daily.
The car manages the battery … I just plug in every day … it’s always fully charged in morning.
Volt has two charge rates … 8Amp and 12Amp.. I usually put on 8Amp at night and 12A during day.
Volt battery is rated at 6000 cycles. I don’t know of any battery made today that’s rated this high.
When I bought my Volt in 2012 if someone told me that I would still be getting over the 38 mile rating when it was 12 yrs old … I would not have believed them.
Over 50 yrs and 18 vehicles … this Volt is by far the most reliable .. best performing… most quiet smooth riding.
Ouch 😬 ice engines last 100+ years. I saw a modle T driving around in a parade last year. That’s 1/5th the duration.
Nobody is doubting batteries will last well if you care for them. The problem is what will happen when you abuse them. What happens when you got to run from point A to B and can’t recharge them to a proper amount, what about getting stuck in traffic in 110+ degrees Missouri, or power surges to your house. We can’t be nit picky 100% of the time. At least ICE is Forgiving
Show me just one EV that had a battery failure due to abuse, and I will show you thousands of ICEVs that had engine failures due to those same conditions you posted. My GM ICEVs since 1975 had long engine lives ( over 20 years average before reselling) because I drive slower than the speed limits, and take very good care of the engine and all its accessories. Yet I have NEVER seen an electric motor failure on any of my vehicles. So if you treat you vehicle well it should drive well for over 20 years, be it gas or electric powered.
Don’t even drive the speed limit? Ok Boomer
How long will an ICE last if you don’t put oil in it? How long if you don’t replace the spark plugs? How long if you don’t replace the head gasket? How long will it last if you don’t keep the coolant levels topped up, or make sure the radiator is working, keep the belts in good condition, Etc, etc.
An ICE engine takes a lot of care and maintenance to make it last.
An EV battery also has some basic things you can do to make it last longer.
And some designs, like GM’s modular approach, means bad cells can be replaced with good cells without replacing the entire pack, significantly extending the longevity of the battery.
I CALL BS.
Any EV with a good battery management system will do well. Plug in everyday if you can and keep the state of charge between 30 and 80 percent as much as possible and it will last a long time. It it’s and LFP battery charge it to 100%.
I ‘floor’ my Volt everyday at least a couple times… no shifting… no @ .. 294 lbs torque instantly.
After 12yrs … I’ve not had a single problem with my Volt.
It’s still too much fun when a grossly overpriced ‘model T’ like a Porsche or BMW .. etc … pulls up next to me at a light … their ‘engine’ shuts off. 0 power … 0 torque …
It’s too much fun hearing them catching up to my $23K 12yr old Chevy! My Volt can do full throttle accelerations all day…. Try doing that with any ICE engine… let alone one with a ‘turbo’ … talk about durability… no ICE competes with Voltec Drive.
After reading this report in a little more detail, I’ve come to the opposite conclusion. 8.5% of the 2013 Tesla Model S’s in the report experienced a battery replacement. The Model S is a good benchmark to extrapolate from because it uses active cooling, premium components, and is 10 years old. From this we can see that 1 in 12 EV owners need a $20,000+ operation on their car in 10 years – just outside of the 8 year mandated warranty. And then we have to ask what the number will look like in another 5 years. Will the number of battery replacements rise exponentially? EVs may be good for a quick lease or even 8 year ownership, but after that, all bets are off.
That’s a problem with Tesla’s design is that they can’t simply repair/replace a bad cell Or module and have to replace the full pack.
I wonder at what point, the Gov steps in and requires the equivalent of a “core charge” for a replaced EV battery? An EV battery pack is full of valuable critical minerals and isn’t worthless if it is done being useful for an EV, and if the automaker is not reimbursing you for the value of that pack, to reduce the cost of the battery replacement, they should.
I have not seen the 8.5% 2013 replacement data. But even if true, how many were due to the novelty of the design and how close does the 2023 design resemble that 2013 design?
Plus, that’s a 9 year old car now and quite possibly 9 year old battery chemistry and computer monitoring systems that no longer exist.
If you want to pick an argument about EV car you had best pick another area than the battery or motor,
Most cars today are trashed by 20 years.
One data point from my Volt after 9 yrs and 60K mi. It began with 10.7 kWh usable and is now at 9.1 (15% capacity loss).
It’s “degraded” to match the range stats of the latest plug-in Prius, and is likely still a lot more fun to drive. Well done, GM.
I’ve replaced tires and brakes. Oil change every 2 yrs.
“You can make UP TO $10 Million Dollars!!” “Armageddon COULD BE here in a few years!!!” Hope Words work for the gullible Vroom not vreem.
So the report basically says they MAY last 20 years if you don’t use them?
As for all this purported long life on a battery car battery, as my dad on wisely told me, “if you want to know how good a product is look at the warranty because the manufacturer knows how long a product will assuredly last”. And, if you get an OEM warranty within the typical 8 years and 100,000 miles some/most/all? manufacturers change just the defective cell so it is not long after that other problems will be cropping up. If you pay commercial rates (approximately nationally $0.44 per kWh) of kWh while driving a battery car if costs more per mile to drive the car than a gasoline powered car assuming $3.50 (approximate national average) per American gallon. The OEMS don’t want you to run your battery car below 20% if you want long life so now your 300 mile range vehicle is really 240 miles and it still takes 45-60 minutes to charge from 20-80% assuming you can find a working level 2 charger. The last 20% takes a lot longer to charge. As for hybrids, I can tell you that I called for retail price of Ford Fusion plug-in battery and it was approximately plus an expensive labor charge. We had another hybrid at our shop and once the battery goes dead you can’t run the gasoline engine by itself. I called the dealer last week and asked the retail price of a Mach E Mustang battery and depending on exact car model they price ranged from $33,000 to $41,000 plus labor to install. And the dishonest Inflation Reduction Act STEALS a total of $12,000 for total rebate money (between both the first and second purchaser purchases) from your wallet to pay for your virtue-signaling WOKE neighbor’s vehicle. And where will the Trillions of dollars come from for the national electrical grid update, from your wallet and your children and grandchildren’s reduced standard of living. Battery car ranges drop 50% in cold weather and up to 75% when towing. If you say that battery cars are the best way to go for most people then you are a liar or intentionally stupid or intentionally ignorant. Kevin L
Kevin you are spot on with your comment.
Don’t drive in the heat or leave your car in the sun it will affect the battery. Don’t drive in the cold or around salt water as it damages the battery or catches fire. Don’t use fast-charging staging because it may cause more stress on the battery. My son-in-law had a Tesla S for 5 years and his battery encountered issues like more time to charge and discharged more quickly. Tesla said that is to be expected and he most likely would have to replace the battery by year 7. He traded it in on an ICE vehicle.
As I said in many articles, I have nothing against EVs or new technology as I have been in the high-tech business for over 45 years. The government did not strategically plan to transition to alternative energy. For the most part, they stopped all-new production of fossil fuels. They and the states are mandating everything from vehicles, appliances lawn equipment etc. go battery or electric by 2035. Energy experts stated it will take 50 years to expand or build the grid to support these mandates and the grid will have to be powered by fossil or nuclear fuels. Other things that weren’t considered are the number of charging stations needed in cities vs rural, apartment complexes. The cost for dealerships to change equipment and train the technicians as working on batteries pose new safety risks. Disposal or recycling of batteries. Remember when we went from glass and paper to plastic? Now plastic is causing environmental issues. Batteries are toxic and will be very difficult and costly to recycle or dispose of.
The last thing I will mention that you will never hear about is additional taxes. The gov and states charge a gas tax at the pump to assist in building and maintaining roads and bridges. As people switch to EVs gas tax revenues dramatically decline. All EV data is collected by the manufacturers and shared with states and the government. Some states in conjunction with the Feds are currently working on an application to track each EVs mileage both local and interstate travel which in turn will be charged back to the owner on a monthly basis. It will automatically be deducted from your account each month. The bottom line the world cannot survive on wind, solar, or battery power alone, and mandating all these changes are going to save the planet which has been proven wrong time and time again. If the governments were serious about it they would have built a long-term strategic energy plan and shared it with the public. It’s all about power, control, and financial gain for the global elites.
Three years ago the US was energy independent. This administration’s policies caused an energy pandemic
Kevin, many people already drank the “Green Kool-AId” so expect to get a lot of thumbs down.
I am replying to the folks giving thumbs down to anyone stating the US electrical grid and the manufacturers are not ready for EV mandates. The Biden administration just announced more stringent emissions guidelines this week whereby the auto manufacturers will need to produce more EVs to meet the administration’s mandates. GM said they do not have the money and infrastructure to meet those mandates and is asking the government for money. Ford is losing $3400 on every EV they build. The US Energy Department stated it will take trillions of dollars and up to 50 years to build out the US Energy Grid and it will still need to rely on fossil fuel to run it. This administration’s mandates for EVs are going to bankrupt the auto industry and who is going to bail them out? In the end it will be the taxpayer.
I call BS. GM was actually pushing for more stringent regulations, because they plan to be 100% EV, anyway. Utilities will shore up the grid as needed to meet demand. Too much money/profit in it for them not to.
As more EVs, take hold, total energy consumption drops as EVs more efficient than ice and gasoline production.
That’s Ford being greedy or the dealership lying, because a Bolt EV battery you can find online new for like $11k.
I only pay 0.11/kwh so I save a ton on fuel costs over ICE. As for the national energy grid, it needs some drastic upgrades with or without EV’s. Just look at what happened in Texas. Yes towing reduces a EV’s range. What do you think it does to the gas mileage of a ICE? Some people are never “never an EV” and no matter what will never change. It is sort of like back in the early 1900’s. I will never give up my horses for a Model T !!! You can’t find a working gas station, oil changes, spark plugs, tires are all an added expense. You can’t find a mechanic, etc. I can pull my horses to any stream for water and any grassy spot to feed them. Brush them down at the end of the day and they are good to go…….Some people are resistant to change no matter what.
Interesting analogy, although completely backwards. EV’s are less convenient and more expensive to purchase which makes them a step backwards towards the horse & buggy.
And if you believe this 100 year propaganda, I have a bridge to sell you!!
I have a 1959 Chevy Impala that makes it 64 years old with 62,000 miles. The engine, Trans, and rear axle have never been apart. I just replaced its original clutch and gas tank last year. I will let you know how it turns out 36 years from now.
Love this reply. I own several classic customs and hot rods and they are not only fun but very therapeutic. I’ve been in this car thing since conception in Dad’s ’34 Chevy hot rod in 1956. All we did growing up was building, painting, and restoring cars. All of us did/do it for a living with the Hartman name being in the custom vehicle biz since the 1800s. As a 45-year custom pinstriper, I striped everything and have respect for it all. Personally, I will never own an EV as my cool ride. My wife owns a hybrid Camry and it is a decent car but the only thing I like it for is the 40mpg. With my personal cars, it’s all about SPG..smiles per gallon. Vroom not vreem.
Kind of a ridiculous anecdote. It’s not the years, but the miles. That’s a super low miles for 64 years.
In the Detroit News, an auto reporter who owns EVs that just did a study while he was testing EVs in cold weather. His test showed driving in temps below 40 degrees. He drove 17 miles and lost 30 miles of range. He also stated you could lose up to 70% range in cold weather. I know someone who owns the Mustang E who can’t use the heater in the winter to drive to work and back because they could not get home. Sounds like fun going with no heat. My wife would kill me if I talked her into an EV living in Michigan.
That is so bogus.
EVs maybe lose 30% in cold weather. Less for newer ones that have heat pumps. Unless they are cranking the heat to 90F and not using the heated seats/steering wheels.
Keep the heat at a comfortable 65F-70F and use the heated seats. And range loss is minimal. Also, unlike gas car, can preheat the EV in the garage while plugged-in and let the battery and interior warm up. Then range loss is even less.
It’s not totally bogus….
Sometimes in the winter when I have to do the work commute and pick up the kids at two different locations I would start at 180 miles and have 30 miles of range left when I only traveled 100 miles. Not hot rodding or anything. And there is no way I’m not running heat with the kids In the car lol.
EVs are alright, but I Still drive my ICE cars as well. Celebrate fuel diversity.
So you did 100 miles, and have 30 left. Originally said it had 180. 180-130=50.
50/180 = ~ .27 or about 30%.
I should have clarified my “not totally bogus” claim was for the comfortable 65-70 temp. 40 of those miles i ran the heat with the kids and the other 60 I use the heated seats and steering wheel. So it probably would have lost more range if I ran the heat the whole time. I do agree that 70% seems a bit high but even a loss 30-40% can be concerning at times.
If batteries can easy last 20 years, then why don’t manufacturers offer extended warranty to 12, 15 or 18 years?
That would be additional profits for them, just like selling extended warranty on reliable enough vehicles.
8 year, 100,000 mile warranty is US government mandated to match the warranty on emissions control systems. Other government like in Canada followed suit.
Had it not been mandated, we would probably have a four year warranty.
If gas engines last 100 years then why don’t manufacturers extend the warranty for them?
Because gas engines do a lot more than a battery does.
Gas engines are nowhere as efficient as electric motors. Gas on the other hand has a lot more energy in it than a battery of comparable size. As battery densities increase the need for gas will decrease. If batteries had the same energy density as gasoline we wouldn’t even be having this conversation because we would all have electric vehicles.
They already do. Honda extends the powertrain warranty from 5 to 8 years on some of its factory extended warranties.
I don’t know about the newer direct injected and turbocharged Hondas but with evidences from various owners taking their Honda K20 or K24 series engines to 200,000 miles with little maintenance, only an ignoramus would buy a pure “powertrain” extended warranty. It would have been a waste of money for an additional 100,000+ miles of driving.
I only have about 100,000 miles on my 11 Accord 4-cyl and without it burning motor oil, I don’t have the least bit of concern that I can drive it another 100,000 miles with minimal issues. Evidence of the engines lasting more than 200,000 miles can easily be looked up and ascertained. There are a lot of early 2000 Accord engines that are still operational.
So for BEVs, with many makes and models’ batteries possibly not having available refurbishment / replacement down the road, Battery Management Software in conjunction with the Central Monitoring Unit (for voltage and current conditions) are of critical important.
With batteries, we need to understand “battery cell balancing” as not all battery cells are going to show the ideal current and voltage. It doesn’t take a lot of battery cells within a module to require servicing/replacement and those are currently highly specialized and probably cost a bit more in terms of bill/book rates.
My phone battery lasted a long time too but near the end I was charging it three times per day.
Phones get cycled more frequently and don’t have advanced battery management systems and active cooling/heating.
Man by the amount of downvotes, I can tell a lot of people on here either don’t like truth and facts and/or are just plain ignorant.
Or maybe we just don’t like people who like EVs.
Ah. So just narrow minded bigots?
Carl you are so dumb. Phone batteries and car batteries are 2 different things. Do some research. Try news coulombe.
Same materials. One’s just bigger.
I call BS on a battery being useable for 20 years.
I call bs on your bs. How do you know? Are you an expert?
Common sense and climate conspiracy.
You and Carl should get together. Neither of you explain your comments. Show us some proof. Do you know how to read? Do some research. Plenty of info out there. What kind of education do you have? What is 2+ 2 divided by 6?
My 2016 Volt has had its battery fully charged and fully depleted six times a week for 2100 cycles and has lost less than 5% of the original range. I wonder if this is because I live in a mild climate and use gentle level 1 charging every night. By GM design, the Volt only accessed only about 90% of the original battery capacity, giving it that buffer for degradation. Nevertheless, without doubt Volt batteries last a very long time even with thousands of full charge/discharge cycles. Note that the original Prius hybrid batteries are now 20 years old and were repeatedly charged/depleted multiple times per day. They still have over 90% of their capacity. Look it up. I am optimistic about having 80% capacity 20 years after purchasing my Volt PHEV. Full depletion/charging cycles are very rare for full EVs so they may survive just as well as my PHEV. I also have an EV and a 100% to 10% depletion happened just once in four years.
My Volt is 11 years old, 140000 miles charges to 90% of original range. Hardly any maintenance over the years. Original brakes, and first two years saved just under $6000.00 in gas, versus the Jeep grand Cherokee that I was driving and traded in for the Volt.
I mentioned separately, the data on the life of EV batteries. Here I address the point that current EVs are optimal for certain tasks and not all tasks.
If you have only one vehicle and have to travel long distances regularly or tow regularly then you should have a PHEV, if you can afford it, not an EV. Surely everyone knows that, and yet it is always brought up to attack EVs. If you are a family with more than one vehicle and somewhere to charge an EV then, if and when it is time to buy a new vehicle, you should not pass up the opportunity to have one PHEV and one EV. EVs are simply better in every way for daily use, with the obvious exception of long journeys over 200 miles or towing, which is what the PHEV is for. Of course, the best criteria for owning an EV are not met for most apartment dwellers and until they are, ICE cars must remain available until that issue has been fully addressed.
If you are a lucky middle-class family with two cars and if you can get solar panels, then failing to get an EV may be a suboptimal decision. I charge my EV and house off sunlight, and the solar panels paid for themselves in six years. The ICE engine in my Volt has about 2000 miles a year on it. The electrons for the other 15,000 miles of driving every year and 90% of my previous utility costs are now free sunlight. The solar panels are degrading at less than 2% a year, by the way. I am not freeloading because (a) I pay $18 a month connection fee that my non-solar neighbors do not pay, and (b) even though the neighbors get my excess electricity from a distance of yards, the Utility charges my neighbors for long distance transmission costs even though there are none, increasing Utility profits.
My family are among the lucky 30% that are a two-car family and of course when the next car was needed, it was a $25K Bolt with 250 miles of range (180 miles in the cold), also running on free sunlight.
If you can afford it, it not only makes cost sense to have a PHEV, and EV, and solar, but it is also patriotic because it decreases our dependence on fossil fuel, reduces the cost of maintaining our electric grid, and makes the air in our town better to breathe. Furthermore, with the IRA, EVs bring back manufacturing jobs to the US at a time when China had already cornered 70% of the EV and battery market. We were about to eat dust.
Great balanced post.
Though last I looked, roughly 2/3 (~60%) of US households had 2 or more cars.
I agree that for many, the best solution right now is one PHEV, and one EV, especially if you can charge at home or work for cheap.
I’ll believe it when I see it across many manufacturers. I know they are different but what is interesting is ICE car batteries. The prices have quadrupled the past 10 years and the longevity has dropped in half in most cases. My friend’s shop replaces many batteries and the ones they sell in Walmart and the local parts stores seem to be lucky to see 3 years out of them. One of the worst seems to be OEM Honda/Acura vehicles. I have seen them crap out on vehicles less than 2 years old. The point here is there will still be variances in quality control and battery life between companies and many factors at play with owners such as climate, use, fast charging versus all night so I expect some EV batteries will outlast others so stating they will all last 20 years may prove to be false
“To help alleviate any worries when it comes to battery degradation, it’s important to keep a few details in mind:”
Followed by a list that is guaranteed to keep the owner worried all the time!
Have a look at news coulombe page on you tube. He describes very well his usage of his 2017 Bolt. He has had none of those worries. He fast charges many times without battery degradation. Very little maintenance also. After
50,000 miles he was still on original tires.
You use a 6 year old car to prove how these batteries will do in 15 to 20 years?
Have you seen the list of things you need to do to keep an ICE drivetrain running and healthy for 20 years?
Wow, a lot of opinions and people talking about things they know little about. I have put almost 150,000 miles between my two plug in hybrids (both GM) and they have cost dramatically less to run than my ICE vehicles (of which I have 4). Most studies show that the battery “packs” on most PHEVs and BEVs will last at least 175,000 to 200,000 miles before they degrade to a point where they are not reasonably useful. Yes, they may have 15% less range by the time they exceed 100,000, but do you think your ICE vehicle has the same performance level at 100,000 that it did when it was new?
BEVs are not perfect and yes, they lose about a third of their range in very cold weather. If you can’t live with a 200 mile range between charges, and you live in Minnesota or Montana you probably shouldn’t buy a BEV, at least not yet. If you regularly drive hundreds of miles between trips to your garage or driveway, you should wait a few years, while the charging station network gets built out before buying a BEV.
BEVs are relatively new technology. In the 1950s when ICE cars had only been around in quantity for about 30 years, oil changes were required every 2,000 miles and every 10,000 miles you were changing spark plugs and adjusting distributor ‘points’ and carburetors. BEVS are in their first 10 years of regular use in any volume. Do you think they won’t get better over the next 20 years as their technology improves with familiarity? If you are a ‘never electric’ guy, talk to someone who owns one. 8 out of 10 think electric is great-more convenient than gas stations (if you have a garage), cheaper to operate, quieter (when you want quiet) and more responsive (quicker 0-30 mph)