In a combustion car, the most important element It is the engine and it is usually what the lifespan of the car depends on. When the engine is irreparable or too expensive to repair, the car is usually sent to the scrapyard.
In an electric car, the battery This is the determining factor, also because it is the most expensive, which is why the useful life of a battery is particularly important for electric car users. Now, a study claims that batteries last longer than was thought a few years ago.
Not all electric cars experience the same battery degradation
Degradation and battery life of the electric cars This is one of the issues that causes the most concern among users of this type of vehicle and people who are considering owning one. It is what we call “battery health”, a term that we are used to hearing because it is also used when talking about mobile phones.
Just as we are concerned that the battery health As the battery life of our smartphone decreases because a charge lasts less time than when the phone was new, electric car users are concerned that their vehicle offers less and less autonomy because its battery degrades.
The difference is that a mobile phone does not have as long a lifespan as a car. Partly because it is cheaper than a car, it is replaced sooner, according to the OCUevery two or three years, on the other hand, a car has a longer useful life: in Spain in particular, the average age of our cars is 14.2 years.
Remember that 14.2 years is the average age, there will be those who change cars earlier and those who do it later. Logically, those who plan to keep their vehicle longer and have an electric car will be more worried about battery degradation, simply because it is a determining factor when using the car: if the battery degrades too much, the autonomy is drastically reduced.
Well, according to the latest study on battery life that has been prepared Geotabelectric vehicle users should not worry much about the health of the battery because it hardly degrades each year.
Geotab already published a study on battery degradation in 2019 and concluded that an electric car battery degrades by 2.3% on average. It has now updated that study because it has more extensive data: five years after the first study, there are older electric cars and more units with more kilometers than in 2019, so this year’s study is more comprehensive.
The conclusion of this new study is that, in fact, the battery of an electric car It degrades by an average of 1.8%. As he points out ElectrekThis means that it lasts longer than the car itself because most drivers will change vehicles before the battery becomes unusable and needs to be replaced. It also means that batteries last longer than the warranty period offered by manufacturers for this component, which is usually 8 years or 160,000 km.
Of course, there are other cases, but, taking the average age of Spanish cars as a reference, which is one of the highest in Europe, the data from the Geotab study indicate that, after those 14 years, the battery of an electric car would have degraded by 25%, that is, its battery health would be 75%.
If that car offered 400 km of range when it was new, it could do 300 km on a charge after those 14 years. Obviously, ideally it would still offer 400 km of range, but “this decrease is unlikely to have a significant impact on the daily needs of most drivers,” as Geotab notes in its study’s conclusions.
However, Geotab also warns that this is a factor that fleet managers should consider because it affects the depreciation of cars.
Of course, not all car batteries degrade equally. To conduct the study, Geotab used a sample of 10,000 electric vehicles and has found differences between different models.
For example, a battery of a Nissan Leaf of the year 2015 degrades more than a car battery Tesla Model S of that same year; the Tesla has a more efficient thermal management system that allows it to have a battery health of 90% after five years, while, in that period, the Nissan’s battery health is 90%.
Not only does the technology used by each model influence the degradation of its battery, other factors also play a role, such as charging more or less frequently at charging points. fast charging high-powered vehicles and, of course, the climate. Batteries degrade faster when it’s hot, which is why it’s important for cars to have effective battery cooling systems.
Find your ideal electric car
If you’ve thought about buying an electric car, this will interest you. We have created the Personalised Electric Car Recommender, where, in addition to seeing the models that suit your needs, you will also have answers to the questions that may concern you the most, such as price, range or nearby charging points.
Source: www.motorpasion.com
