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New Study Predicts How Long Your EV’s Battery Will Last

Recurrent’s community of 15,000 EV drivers have provided data on how various models’ ranges change with time. Here’s what it shows.

Michael C. Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Battery Technology

April 10, 2023

9 Slides

Recurrent is an organization with a mission of “providing more transparency and confidence in pre-owned electric car transactions,” in order to “accelerate the overall adoption of electric vehicles.” In Late March, they released a report titled “How Long Do Electric Car Batteries Last?” With their permission, we’re summarizing some of their conclusions and sharing their data charts. (The entire report is worth your time; you can read it here.)

Report author Liz Najman points out a salient fact about all lithium-ion batteries: as soon as they’re born, they start to die.

“Lithium ion batteries start to degrade as soon as they are made and that affects available range as cars age. … Even if you never use lithium ion batteries, they slowly lose power and efficiency over time.”

Her report has three topline conclusions:

  • Battery replacements are rare. “In our community of 15,000 cars, only 1.5% have been replaced (outside of big recalls like Chevy Bolt).”

  • Degradation is not linear: “There's some drop in the beginning then it levels out for a long period.”

  • Most replacements occur under warranty: “For example, a new Rivian has battery coverage for 175,000 miles or 10 years. The federal minimum warranty is 8 years or 100,000 miles.”

With Recurrent's permission, let’s take a look at the data.

About the Author(s)

Michael C. Anderson

Editor-in-Chief, Battery Technology, Informa Markets - Engineering

Battery Technology Editor-in-Chief Michael C. Anderson has been covering manufacturing and transportation technology developments for more than a quarter-century, with editor roles at Manufacturing Engineering, Cutting Tool Engineering, Automotive Design & Production, and Smart Manufacturing. Before all of that, he taught English and literature at colleges in Japan and Michigan.

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