For many car owners, the electric car represents a completely new way of driving and brings with it many doubts and concerns. One of the biggest concerns is the battery life of an electric car.
You may have read horror stories about electric car owners facing high replacement bills or contemplating cutting their losses on cars that would otherwise have no value because they literally don’t work.
And it’s not difficult to see where these rumors and anecdotes come from, because our extensive experience with mobile phones, tablets and laptops has shown many that, even in a relatively short period of time, the batteries that power them can quickly lose efficiency, resulting in the need to charge them more frequently.
In extreme cases, the degradation is so severe that the device does not even turn on unless it is permanently on charge, which is obviously no use for an electric vehicle.
There’s also no denying that battery technology isn’t cheap, and if the cells ever need to be replaced, it’s very likely that replacing them will cost more than the car is now worth, which is why we tend to replace cell phones entirely rather than replacing the battery pack.
Battery swapping stations, where dead electric car batteries can be swapped for fully charged ones in just a few minutes, are starting to emerge in Europe and may offer an answer to questions about battery life.
But how serious is the electric car battery problem really? The good news is that the more electric cars there are on the market and the longer they last, the more tests will be produced to prove that the power pack will often last the life of the car.
Better yet, there are plenty of tips and strategies you can follow to ensure your car batteries survive better than most.
Battery life of electric cars
Electric car batteries generally last as long as the rest of the car. But just like your phone or laptop battery, they degrade over time.
Ultimately, the cells should have at least 70% capacity even after 200,000 miles, which is the kind of mileage that few cars achieve, whether electric or combustion engine-powered.
As an example, several Tesla Model S taxis operating from Gatwick Airport have accumulated more than 300,000 miles each over three years and all retained at least 82% battery life.
Why does an electric car battery lose charge or degrade?
The truth is that batteries degrade over time and use, meaning they become less efficient as they age and offer shorter ranges.
Continuous advances in battery technology mean that problems related to performance degradation are reducing all the time. However, even the latest lithium-ion cells are not completely immune to losing performance over time, and several factors play a role.
Perhaps the biggest contributor to decreased efficiency is the use and charge cycle. Frequent draining of cells followed by a full charge can over time damage the battery’s ability to maintain its optimal energy storage. That’s why manufacturers generally recommend charging only to 80% and never letting the range drop to zero miles.
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