As electric cars and other Electric Vehicles (EVs) become increasingly popular, many consumers hoping to make the switch want to know: How long do EV batteries last? Although battery life varies by manufacturer and age, you can generally expect new batteries. Electric cars have come a long way.
Automobiles are offering cheaper electric cars with longer range, and charging stations are becoming more common across the country. But if you’re new to the plug-in lifestyle, you might be wondering how long an EV battery lasts. The short answer is at least 8 years or 100,000 miles, which is very encouraging, especially if you’re looking to buy an EV in the near future.
In this article, we’ll go into detail about electric vehicle batteries, battery life, battery replacement costs, and how to maximize your vehicle’s battery life.
What are Battery Basics
Lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles are similar to those used in mobile phones and laptops, but are larger. They are very different from the heavy lead-acid batteries used in conventional cars and have a higher energy density than rechargeable nickel-metal hydride batteries.
They are also less prone than other types of batteries to lose charge when not in use. EV batteries generally contain a series of interconnected individual cells, perhaps several hundred of them depending on the model, rather than one large unit. The battery capacity of an electric car is expressed in kilowatt-hours, abbreviated as kWh. It’s much better here. Choosing an electric car with a higher kWh rating is like buying a car with a bigger tank that allows you to drive more miles before you need to “fill up”.
For starters, driving at higher sustained speeds can use more battery power than driving around town. This is counterintuitive to many people because it’s the opposite of how a gas engine car works, which uses less fuel when driving at speed than in traffic. In addition, more energy is needed to move a car full of passengers and cargo than if it is occupied only by the driver. Note that the electric vehicle control system prevents the battery from being 100% fully charged or 100% discharged to maintain its efficiency and extend its life.
Read Also: Top 14 Lithium-ion Battery Manufacturers in India
What affects battery life?
Some of these side reactions even help the battery last longer if other conditions are favorable. The best practices to prevent battery damage are to do things that reduce the physical stress on the battery’s chemical reactions or to avoid things that speed up the chemical reactions.
- Heat
- Depth of Discharge
Heat
The first LEAF batteries taught us one important thing about lithium battery life – they don’t like heat. The oldest LEAF batteries do not have an active coolant, which means that electric cars in hot climates wear out faster than expected, and many need a replacement battery. Although many automakers have learned from Nissan’s early mistake and installed thermal management into their battery packs, it is still true that batteries last longer if they are kept as cool as possible.
Depth of Discharge
The depth of discharge indicates how much you use the battery between charges. For example, if you have a 100 kWh battery, a depth of discharge of 80 kWh is 80% of the battery capacity. Laboratory studies have shown that battery cells last longer when the depth of discharge is low, and conventional wisdom suggests keeping the charge band around 50% where the battery is most stable – on the chemical.
In other words, instead of using 50% of the battery before charging, you can use 20% of the battery, recharge, and then use another 30%.
What is the battery life of an electric car?
As the most expensive part of an EV, you’d hope that the lithium-ion batteries in a car battery would last longer than, say, Kanye West’s presidential ride or the defunct streaming platform Quibi (if you don’t know what that is, consider our reminder). When it comes to electric cars, if you’re wondering “How long do car batteries last?”
Australia has a number of car manufacturers – including Tesla, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Nissan – who guarantee electric car batteries for eight years or 160,000 km, whichever comes first (most warranties state that the battery must still hold at least 70 percent capacity after eight years).
Read Also: What are LTO Batteries? Manufacturer & Advantage
How do batteries for electric cars work?
It’s like a scaled-up version of the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery in your cell phone—electric cars don’t use a battery like a phone, but instead use a set of thousands of individual Li-ion cells that work together. When a car is charged, electricity is used to make chemical changes in its batteries. When you’re on the road, these changes are reversed to produce electricity.
How much does it cost to replace an electric car battery?
The average cost to replace an electric vehicle battery is $5,500. Batteries are one of the most expensive components of electric cars. And if you need to replace the battery after the warranty expires, it helps to know how much you’ll be spending out of pocket. We recommend that you have the battery installed by a dealer who can obtain and install original OEM batteries certified by the manufacturer.
How do you know when your EV battery is dying?
While simple aging can cause an EV battery’s ability to hold a charge to decrease over time, it’s unlikely that the battery will stop working—just as an old cell phone or laptop might struggle to hold a charge for any length of time. Then you’ll notice that you have to charge frequently and those charges won’t last until you get used to them. While many people decide to buy a new car after owning it for a decade or more, there are options if you’re attached to your EV.
Electric car battery charging cycles
The electric car’s batteries connect to the car’s engine, which spins the wheels. When you accelerate, the motor is energized and the energy stored in the battery is depleted. EV batteries charge when plugged in and discharge when in use. Repeating this cycle of charging and discharging will damage the battery over time.
This will reduce the amount of charge the battery can hold. This will increase the time required to charge the battery. More importantly, charging cycles reduce the life of an electric vehicle battery. Electric cars have liquid-cooled batteries.
However, electric cars in warmer areas break down faster. While they offer the convenience of speed, frequent use of Level 3 fast charging stations shortens the expected battery life of electric vehicles. These high-voltage DC stations can charge an EV battery up to 80% in about 30 minutes. However, the process generates heat in the battery and therefore affects its long-term performance.
Read Also: 10 Best electric cars in India in 2022
