One of the popular bugaboos hurled by EV boo-birds is that EV batteries will wear out quickly. Now that there are significant numbers of long-distance EVs on the road, this false track has been completely removed. Car and Driver (among many other sources) estimates that the average EV battery should last between 10 and 20 years (the average new car in the US is expected to last 12.5 years). A recent study by scientists at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center found that most EV batteries will likely last longer than researchers previously predicted. Real-world accounts of long-life batteries, for example in Tesla taxis, are numerous.
Scientific studies and individual anecdotes give us two perspectives on battery longevity—standard tests that measure each EV's battery life give us another. The German testing agency DEKRA has conducted just such a test, and has now completed more than 25,000 health status tests using its patented process. Based on collected data, DEKRA reports (via Electrive) that “electric vehicle batteries last longer than consumers sometimes fear.”
DEKRA's rapid battery test, which will be launched in 2022, is currently available in 130 different car models and is offered in several European countries. The process takes 15 minutes, and includes a static test and a short acceleration drive of around 50 to 100 meters.
The real-world results of each test are compared to “parameterization” for each vehicle model, which includes data collected from complex test drives under various conditions. “This creates a kind of coordination structure that our system uses to analyze and evaluate the actual values measured during the test,” explains Christoph Nolte, Executive Vice President of DEKRA. “The bottom line is a statement about the state of the battery that no other method on the market can provide quickly and at the same time accurately.”
The growing data pool enables DEKRA experts to make general statements about battery aging, and say “even with high mileage, most traction batteries are still in good condition.” As one example, DEKRA cites a fleet of Jaguar I-Pace electric taxis that began operating in Munich in 2018. DEKRA tested six vehicles in 2024, and found that, with miles between 180,000 and 260,000, the state of health of the traction batteries was between 95 and 97 percent.
“On average, we charged the cars about one and a half times a day, not particularly gently, but always fully charged to give drivers the right level of safety according to the distance,” said Gregor Beiner, Managing Director of Munich. Taxi Center (MTZ). “Batteries are very strong, very durable and, especially with the safety buffers installed by manufacturers, they retain their power for a very long time.”
Source: Electric